Workers‘ Rights Violationsin the Indian Leather

and Footwear Industry

WaLk a MILe In TheIR ShoeS

Vaibhav Raaj, Shashi Kant Prasad, Anton Pieper

2

ConTenTS

1. Introduction · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 05

2. overview of the Indian Leather and Footwear Industry · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 06 2.1 Indian Leather Industry in World trade · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 06 2.1.1 Centres for Leather Production · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 07 2.1.2 Structure of the Leather Industry · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 07 2.2 Indian Footwear Industry in World Trade · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 11 2.2.1 Centres of Production · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 12 2.2.2 Structure of the Industry · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 13 2.2.3 Government Policy · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 14 2.2.4 Environmental Issues · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 15

3. Labour Rights in India · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 16 3.1 National Overview of Legal Provisions · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 16 3.2 Freedom of Association · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 18 3.3 Social Insurance · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 19 3.4 Occupational Safety and Health · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 19 3.5 Labour Contract and Minimum Wages · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 20

4. Labour Rights Violations in Indian Leather and Footwear Industry · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 20 4.1 Methodology · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 20 4.1.1ProfileoftheWorkforceinAmbur · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 22 4.1.2ProfileoftheWorkforceinAgra · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 23 4.2 Factory Case Studies from Agra · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 24 4.2.1 Tej Group, Agra · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 24 4.2.2 Roger Industries Ltd. Agra · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 25 4.3WorkerPortraitsofFootwearandLeatherTanneryWorkersfromAmbur · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 26 4.3.1Kamakshi,FootwearFactoryWorker,Ambur · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 26 4.3.2Manikkyam,LeatherTanneryWorker,Ambur · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 26 4.4 Violation of Labour Rights · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 27 4.4.1 Freedom of Association · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 27 4.4.2 Social Insurance · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 29 4.4.3 Occupational Safety and Health · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 30 4.4.4 Living Wages · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 31 4.4.5 Labour Contract · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 33

5. Interim Conclusions · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 34

6. Recommendations · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 36 6.1 Recommendations to the Indian Leather and Footwear Companies · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 36 6.2 Recommendations for the Indian Government · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 37 6.3 Recommendations for the EU Member States · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 37

Bibliography · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 38Impressum · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 40

ChanGe YoUR ShoeS3

AFWA · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Asia Floor Wage AllianceCEC · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Centre for Education and CommunicationCETP · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · CommonEffluentTreatmentPlantCLE · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Council for Leather ExportsCLRI · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Central Leather Research InstituteE.I. stage · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · East India stage (vegetable tanning) of production

offinishedleatherESI · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Employees‘ State InsuranceFDDI · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Footwear Design and Development InstituteIETP · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · IndividualEffluentTreatmentPlantILO · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · International Labour Organisation NCEUS National

Commission on Enterprises in the Unorganized SectorOBC · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · OtherBackwardClassesOECD · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Organisation for Economic Co-operation

and DevelopmentPF · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Provided FundPPP$ · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Purchasing Power Parity $SC · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Scheduled CastesST · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Scheduled Tribes

This report has been prepared by the Society for Labour and Development, New Delhi and the Südwind-Institut, Bonn, as a part of the project “Change Your Shoes”. It was researched and written by Vaibhav Raaj,Shashi Kant Prasad and Anton Pieper. Analysis of IndianlabourlawswascompiledbyShikhaSillimanBhattacharjee, JD, drawing from her 2016 report Examining India’s Labour Law Changes: Principles of

aCknoWLedGeMenTS

LIST oF abbReVIaTIonS

Rights,InclusionandEmploymentSecurity.Fieldworkfor the primary data collection was coordinated by Shashi Kant Prasad. Field research was conducted by Sipoy Sarveswar in Ambur and Tauqeer Warsi in Agra.Data analysis and secondary research support was providedbyJalalludinAnsari,NehaVermaandFalakJalali. The report was edited by Anannya Bhattacharjeeand Melanie Deter.

© Christina Schröder, Südwind

ChanGe YoUR ShoeS5

1. InTRodUCTIon

“Yeah, they give gloves and all, but we won’t use. These gloves are made up of rubber and they are heavy and it slows us down. And sometimes wearing the gloves, the worker will be little careless if he is not feeling the sewing machine and he has the risk of making the hand go into the machine.”

“We have to stand all day in the cutting section, [where] we are prone to get arthritis and other joint related pains.” “We have to deal with leather, and the smell it emits as well as the glue we use to stick the shoe and other mate-rial in the process of shoe making, make us go dizzy sometimes… we don’t have appetite and want to sleep the moment we get home.”

ThesestatementsweremadebyworkersfromdifferentIndianshoeandleatherfactories.Testimoniesliketheabove attest to the fact that labour law violations are still a common phenomenon in the Indian leather and foot-wearindustry.Thepeoplewhoworkatthefactoriesthatsupply European brands told us, among other infringe-ments, about salaries that are far below a living wage, involuntaryovertime,insufficientprotectionfromhealthandsafetyrisks,absenceofworkers’unionsanddis-crimination and exploitation based on traditional gender and caste norms.

The research was conducted in two different regions: Ambur in South India and Agra in North India. The presentstudyshowsthatworkersinAmbursurviveinrelatively better conditions than in Agra by reaping the historical gains of a vibrant trade union movement – now wellpastitspeak.Inthiscontext,recentlabourlawreformsmaterializetosupplyaflexiblelabourforceforglobalfinancecapital.Itseemstobecomeincreasinglydifficultforworkerstorememberthemselvesasbearersof human rights. Such a condition is already presenting itselfinthecaseoftheworkersinAgra.Therefore,hav-ing supplied the numbers of rights violations, this study woulddojusticetotheworkingpeopleoftheIndianleather and footwear industry in foregrounding their voices to narrate their own stories.

Todoso,thepresentstudytakesacloserlookatlabourrights in the Indian leather and footwear industry: Which economic and political changes have been made in recent years in both sectors, and how have these devel-opmentsaffectedthesituationofindustryworkers?

India has been the second largest producer of footwear after China for many years. There are more than 1 mil-lion people engaged in the Indian footwear industry. Leather footwear is by far the most important product for the Indian footwear industry, both in terms of production and export. The major importers are the UK and the US as well as Germany, France and Italy. So anyone who wantstoknowaboutthesocialandenvironmentalcondi-tions under which leather footwear sold in these coun-triesisproducedmustlookatIndia.

This study is a product of the international campaign Change Your Shoes. Eighteen European and Asian organisations have come together to raise awareness about problems in the production of leather and foot-wear. Research for the campaign was conducted in EasternEurope,ItalyandTurkey,withtheaimofimprov-ing social and environmental conditions in the global leather and footwear industry.

Thepresentstudyfirstgivesanoverviewofthestruc-tures,geographyandlegalframeworkoftheIndianleather and footwear industry (Chapter 2) then goes on tolookattheIndianlegislationrelevanttolabourrights(Chapter3).ThisunderstandingofthelegalframeworkaidsanalysisoftheinterviewswithindustryworkerspresentedinChapter4.Weinterviewed232workersfrom four leather and footwear factories. The interviews were conducted in two of the most important produc-tion clusters in India – 119 interviews of footwear factory workersintheAgradistrictinthestateofUttarPradeshand 113 interviews with footwear factory and leather tanneryworkersintheAmburclusteroftheVelloredistrict of Tamil Nadu. Of the 113 interviews conducted inAmbur,51werewithtanneryworkers.Thestudyendswithrecommendationsonhowvariousstakeholdersmight improve social and environmental conditions in the Indian leather and footwear industry (Chapter 6).

WorkersinIndia’sleatherandfootwearindustrycopewithinternationalmarketvolatilityunderanincreasinglyliberalized regime. This goes along with a gradual dilu-tion of labour laws, decline in the trade union movement andalackofalternativeemploymentopportunities.Inter-national brands procuring from Indian suppliers must takeurgentmeasurestoensurethattheirprofitsdonotcome at the cost of the lives of those who are furthest down in the footwear supply chain.

6

Leather Goods22.87%

Leather Garments10.09%

Saddlery & Harness2.46%

Finished Leather21.74%

Footwear42.83%

Others 17%

China 3%

Africa 1%

Hong Kong 8%

UAE 3%

USA 11%

European Union57%

2. oVeRVIeW oF The IndIan LeaTheRand FooTWeaR IndUSTRY

2.1 IndIan LeaTheR IndUSTRY In WoRLd TRade

Leather and leather products industry in India is a size-able industrial sector with an annual turnover of USD 6.5 billion in 2014-15 achieved at a cumulative annual growth rateof13.1%overthelastfiveyears(CLE2015:n.p.).The excellent performance of the Indian industry can be attributed to its richness when it comes to cattle and buf-falo, and goat and sheep population, accounting for 21 % and 11% of the total world population, respectively. The industry is also labour-intensive employing over 2.5 millionpeople,ofwhomroughly30%arewomenwork-ers (Ibid.). The Indian leather industry produces roughly 3 billion square feet of leather annually, with some varieties ofgoat,calfandsheepskinscommandingpremiumposi-tions. The industry has been undergoing rapid mod-ernization. Supporting industries of leather chemicals andfinishingauxiliarieshavecomplementedthegrowthprocess. Tanning, footwear production, leather garments and leather goods and accessories including saddlery and harness are the integral components of the leather production sector in India.

Table 1: India’s export of Leather and Leather Products for Five Years

2010–11 (Value in Mil-

lion USd)

2011–12 (Value in Mil-

lion USd)

2012–13 (Value in Mil-

lion USd)

2013–14 (Value in Mil-

lion USd)

2014–15 (Value in Mil-

lion USd)

Finished Leather

841.13 1024.69 1093.73 1284.57 1329.05

Footwear 1758.67 2079.14 2066.91 2557.66 2945.15

Leather Garments

425.04 572.45 563.54 596.15 604.25

Leather Goods

855.78 1089.71 1180.82 1353.91 1453.26

Saddlery & Harness

87.92 107.54 110.41 145.54 162.70

Total 3968.54 4873.53 5015.41 5937.97 6494.41

% Growth 22.80% 2.91% 18.39% 9.37%

Source: CLE 2015: n.p.

Figure 1: Share leather & leather products (2014-15)

2+22+43+10+23Source: CLE 2015: n.p.

Among the leather and leather products exported from India, leather footwear occupies the prominent position at 42.83% of the total exports. Other leather goods and finishedleatheroccupysecondandthirdplaceamongthe most traded leather products from India.

Figure 2: Share of various countries in India’s leather & leather products exports (2014-15)

57+11+3+8+1+3+17Source: CLE 2015: n.p.

12 countries accounting for roughly 75% of the total Indian leather and leather product exports are Germany, USA, U.K., Italy, France, Hong Kong, Spain, Netherlands, China,Denmark,UAEandBelgium.TheEuropeanUnioncountries accounting for 57% of the total exports are the mainmarketsforIndia(IBEF2014:n.p.).Germanystandsas number one importing country of leather and leather products from India among all European Countries and one of the major importers of Leather and Leather Prod-ucts in the world (Acharya 2013: 11).

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2.1.1. Centres for Leather Production

India has multiple production clusters for leather and leather products spread out across all parts of the coun-try. Table 4 provides a state-wise distribution of the main production centres for leather in India. The Council for Leather Exports (CLE) of India provides abroadbreak-upoftheexportperformanceofvariousgeographical regions in the country which are summa-rized in the following table. Another report cites CLE data in identifying the Southern region of India, with the main production cluster of Tamil Nadu as having the highest number of production units (ONICRA 2014: n.p).

It must also be noted that leather footwear has been and is expected to be the dominating export of the leather industry (KPMG 2014: vi). Therefore, an inevitable over-lap in trends and features of the leather industry and the footwear industry is witnessed in the following sections.

2.1.2 Structure of the Leather Industry

DamodaranandMansingh(2008:n.p.)haveundertakena thorough investigation of the structure of the leather industry in the Tamil Nadu clusters. The Tamil Nadu clusters have historically led the Indian leather industry in both technological advancements and export-orientation, since the colonial period. In the contemporary period too, Tamil Nadu remains a leading producer of leather and footwear among the Indian states (see data in the previous section). A survey of the structure of the Tamil Nadu industry is used in this section as a representation of advanced leather production in India.

The industry in Tamil Nadu developed mainly in response to the high availability of raw material, particularly goats and sheep from Southern parts of India. The contem-porary industrial clusters in the region are dominated by Muslimcommunityowners,whohistoricallytookoverthe entrepreneurial reins from the pioneering Eurasians. Besides the Chennai cluster mainly situated in and around the Chromepet-Pallavaram areas, the Tamil Nadu region’s main clusters are located in Palar Valley in Vel-lore district, consisting of the clusters of Vaniyambadi, Ambur, Pernambut, Melvisharam and Ranipet and the clusters of Erode, Trichy and Dindigul in the other parts of Tamil Nadu. Government interventions since the colonial period and particularly with the formation of the Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI) in 1953, have played a keyroleinshapingtheindustry.

Table 3: Product-wise major brands that source from India

Product Category Major brands sourcing from India

Footwear Acme,AnnTaylor,Bally,CharterClub,Clarks,Coach, Colehann, Daniel Hector, Deichmann, DKNY, Double H, Ecco, Elefanten, Etienne Aigner, Florsheim, Gabor, Geoffrey Beene, Guess, Harrods, Hasley, Hush Puppies, KennethCole,LizClaiborne,Marks&Spencer,Nautica,Next,Nike,ColeHaan,NunnBush,PierreCardin,Reebok,Rockport,Salaman-der,StacyAdams,TommyHilfiger,TonyLama, Versace, Yves St. Laurent, Zara, Johnston&Murphy,Docksteps,Timberland,Armani,Geox,Diesel,TedBaker,Lacoste,Kickers,CalvinKlein,Sioux,Brasher,Zegna,Massimu Dutti, Buggatti, Lloyd, Christian Dier, Salamander, Camper, Bata, Espirit, French Connection, Legero, Mercedez, H & M and many more famous brands

Leather garments Armani, Zegna, Abercrombie & Fitch, MarcoPolo, Mango, Colehaan, Andre Maarc, Guess,PierreCardin,TommyHilfiger,Versace,DKNY, Liz Claiborne, Ann Taylor, Nautica, Kenneth Cole, Charter Club, Daniel Hector

Leather goods/accessories

Coach, Liz Claiborne, Harrods, Yves St. Lau-rent,TommyHilfiger,EtienneAigner,GeoffreyBeene,Marks&Spencer,Guess,Next,PierreCardin, Prada, GAP, Levis, H & M, British Home Stores, Banana Republic, Furla, Ameri-canEagleOutfitters,Bracciliani,Walmartetc.

Source: CLE 2015: n.p.

Table 2: Major export market countries for Indian leather and leather products

Rank CoUnTRY 2014–15 %Share 2014–15

1 Germany 800.2 12.32

2 USA 768.06 11.83

3 UK 751.33 11.57

4 Italy 504.26 7.76

5 Hong Kong 422.11 6.5

6 France 371.75 5.72

7 Spain 351.27 5.41

8 U.A.E. 281.07 4.3

9 Netherlands 224.92 3.46

10 China 194.26 2.99

Total 4669.23

Source: CLE 2015: n.p.

8

Source: CLE 2015: n.p., ONICRA 2014: n.p.

WeSTeRn • 1234.2 • 22.23%

Maharasthra • 68karnataka • 88

noRTheRn • 666.75 • 12.01%

Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana•171Delhi •155Uttar Pradesh•290

CenTRaL • 204.32 • 3.68%

Madhya Pradesh

*

oTheRS • 1110.65 • 20.01%

eaSTeRn • 699.84 • 12.61%

West bengal • 666andrha Pradesh • 138

Ker-ala

Tamil Nadu

Maharasthra

Karnataka

WestBengal

Andrha Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh

Delhi

Madhya Pradesh

SoUTheRn • 1635.45 • 29.46%

Tamil nadu • 758kerala

*

ReGIon • Export (Value in Million USD) APR-JAN 2015-16 • Share in Total Export

States • No. of manufacturing units * Data Missing

Punjab

Haryana

Figure 3: Contribution of major leather and leather footwear production centres to India’s total leather exports1

1 Note: The estimates of regional exports do not represent the exhaustive export production of all clusters within the region. The estimates are based on aggregate port data for the ports in each region.

ChanGe YoUR ShoeS9

Kerala

Karnataka

Andrha Pradesh

RanIPeT

SaLeM

PondICheRRY

dIndIGUL

aMbUR*

VanIYaMbadI

ChennaI

VeLLoRe

MYSoRe

CoIMbaToRe

MadURaI

TIRUChIRaPaLLIPeRUndURaI

banGaLoRe

eRode

PeRnaMbUT

PaLLaVaRaM

*research site

CaUVeRY

Tamil Nadu

Figure 4: Leather production clusters in Tamil nadu

Table 4: description of hierarchical structure of local value chains in the Tamil nadu clusters

Level (bottom-up) Type of Production Units brief description Main functions

I Dependent sub-contractors in tanning (jobworktanneries)andinleatherproductmaking(leatherfabricators)

Small scale enterprises, hierarchi-cal,verticalrelationshipswithfirmsthat place orders with them

Prepare shoe uppers for exporters fromfinishedleather,producefin-ished leather from wet blue leather

II Small scale independent produc-ersoffinishedleatherandleatherproducts

Involved in vertical hierarchical relationswithjobworkunits(piece-work)orfabricatorswhoeithersupplyspecificproductstothemorundertakespecificprocessesregu-larly, or in times of high demand. Largelyreflectthenatureofmodernsmall-scalefirmsconstitutingthemajority of units in the clusters; have verticallinkageswithsubcontrac-torandsubcontracteefirmsandalso horizontal relationships among themselves; also export directly to countrieslikeChina

Mostlydotheirownworkoutsourc-ingonlyroughly10%oftheworkattimes

III Medium and large scale enterprises (independent as well as part of groups)

Top level of local value chain, emerg-edfromforwardlinkageswithleatherproductsexportingfirms;leatherproductmakingfirmsatthislevelrelyonbackwardlinkageswithlowerlevelstoflexiblyrespondtoexportdemands; main exporters to the EuropeanmarketandtoAsianhubs

Large units that cover entire range of products, from tanning of raw hides to a variety of leather products such as shoes, leather garments, leathergoods;jobworkisminimalandroughly40%oftheworkisoutsourced.

Source: Damodaran and Mansingh 2008: n.p.

10

-Soaking- Flashing- Unhairing + Liming- Bating-Pickling

- Chromium tanning- Sammying- Borting- Splittin- Shaving

- Conditioning- Stalding-Buffing- Trimming- Finishing

- Neutralisation- Retanning- Drum dyeing- Fatliquoring- Sammying- Setting- Drying

Fleshing

BOD, COD, SS, salts, organic N

H2S, NH2

Shavings, trimmings

BOD, COD, SS, salts, chromium

Trimmings

BOD, COD, chromium, dyes, fat

Solid residues

Liquid residues

Solvents, formaldehyde

PRoCeSS WaSTeRAW HIDES

PRETANNING

MAIN TANNING

WET-BLUE

WET-FINISHING

CRUST

FINISHING OPERATIONS

LEATHER

Figure 5: Stages of Leather Tanning

A typical cluster in the region such as the Chromepet-Pallavaram cluster houses a large number of tanneries andshoemakingunitsaswellaslargenumbersofinputsuppliers,repairingworkshops,warehousesforstoringrawhidesandskinsandseveraltinyunregulatedunitsfor converting waste material into various articles that are transportedtolocalmarkets.Thebankingsectorinstitu-tions catering to the credit needs of the sector in the region are mainly located in the Chromepet-Pallavaram cluster. The production in the clusters is generally organized along the lines of a value chain relationship between small and large units described in table 4.

Rawmaterialsatthefirstlevelaremainlysourcedfromneighbouring clusters within Tamil Nadu. The second and third level production units source their leather from acrossotherIndianleatherproductionhubslikeJalland-har(Punjab),Kanpur(UttarPradesh),Kolkata(WestBen-gal), etc. as well as from international suppliers depend-ing on the demands of the buyer.

Backwardandhorizontallinkageswithinandbetweenthe categoryoftanneriesandleatherproductmakersiscom-monirrespectiveofthesizeoftheunits.Suchlinkagestypicallyresultinsmallerunitslikefabricatorsmovingupthe value chain hierarchy. However, such growth into large verticallyintegratedfirmsdoesnotprecludetheverticalintegrationwithunitsoutsidethefirm-bothtypesofinte-gration are found to simultaneously exist. It must also be noted that tanneries in Tamil Nadu clusters likeChromepet-Pallavaramarenotallowedtoundertakehighly polluting processes preceding the stage of wet blue (Chromium tanning) or East India (E.I.)2 stage (vegetable tanning)ofproductionoffinishedleather.(Seefigurebelow)On the other hand, the Kanpur leather production cluster remains a major cause of concern when it comes to high levels of pollution from the tanning industry (Varman 2009: n.p., Down To Earth 2001: n.p., Times of India 2016: n.p.).

2 E.I. stage refers to the vegetable tanning method of tanning raw hides practised mainly in Southern India in the colonial period. For more details, see http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/arti-cle1295176.ece

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2.2 IndIan FooTWeaR IndUSTRYIn WoRLd TRade

In 2015, India was the second largest producer of foot-wear after China. India produced 2,200 million pairs of shoes equivalent to 9,6% of the total world production. However, China is by far the leader in this segment pro-ducing 13,581 million pairs in 2015, that is, 59,1% of the total world production. But India did considerably better thanVietnam,IndonesiaandBrazilwhichrank3,4and5, respectively, with shares in global production hovering in the range of 3 to 5% (APICCAPS 2016: 4, 21).India is also the third largest consumer of footwear after ChinaandtheUS,withamarketfor2,196millionpairsamounting to 10.6% of the total world consumption of footwear in 2015 (Ibid.: 23).Asanexporteroffootwearthough,Indiaranksrelativelylow at number 7, exporting 206 million pairs or 1.4% of the total world export in footwear in 2015. These num-bersreflectthatIndiahasyetsomedistancetocoverforbetter integration with the global supply chains when it comes to its footwear industry, which currently is mainly producing for domestic consumption (Ibid.: 6).Invalueterms,Indianexportsrankfurtherlowerintheworldrankingsatnumber11witha2%shareintheglobalexportmarket.Indiahasthesamelowrankingat number 11 when it comes to average export price of footwear at USD 11.92. In fact, among the top 5 Asian exportingcountries,Indiarankedlastinbothquantityand value terms. India is not to be seen among the top ten exporters of waterproof footwear in the world in 2015 (Ibid.: 17, 25, 29). A similar situation exists when it comes to rubber and plastic footwear. Leather footwear represents India’s competitive strength inexportswhereitwasrankedinthamongthetopworldexporters of leather footwear in 2015. In value terms, India’s export of leather footwear is fairly comparable to Indonesia,SpainandBelgiumwhicharerankedhigherin this list. In quantity terms, at 115 million pairs in 2015, India produced far more footwear than most countries thatleaditintheleatherfootwearexportrankings.Giventhisfact,Indiastillrankingatnumber9invaluetermsreflectstheconsiderablylowerqualityofitsproduction.Its average export price at USD 16.72 compared to the global average export price of 25.16 USD for leather footwearisreflectiveoftheIndianindustry’sincapacitytoadd considerable value to its leather footwear and there-fore capture a higher place in the global supply chain (Ibid.: 31).

India is again missing from the top ten exporters’ lists when it comes to textile and other types of footwear export. It is clear that India’s limited strength in the global exportmarketforfootwearliesinleatherfootwear.Infact, leather footwear accounted for as much as 56% of the total exports from India in 2015, with rubber and plastic footwear occupying the second place at 29%. However, despite the predominance of leather footwear in Indian exports, India requires a high level of upgrada-tionofitsproductqualityintheworldmarket(Ibid.:70).India is also a major importer of footwear showing a gradual increase in its imports in value terms between 2009 and 2014.

In fact, India’s imports at 203 million pairs was compara-ble to the quantity it exports at 207 million pairs in 2015- the rate of growth has been more than 50% in the years 2013 and 2014. 67% of India’s imports in 2015 were rubber and plastic footwear followed by leather and other type of footwear as the second and third leading cat-egoriesofimportedproducts.Indianmarketconsumedalmost as many pairs of footwear at 2,196 million pairs as its industry produced (2,200 million pairs) in 2015. However, export growth rate between 2004 and 2014 has shown a much higher increase compared to a rather slow but steady increase in the rate of import growth (Ibid.). The UK and the US were the two largest export trading partners for India in 2015. Germany, UAE and France are the 3 other major importers of Indian footwear products according to 2015 data. The US, UK, UAE, Somalia and Germanyhaveshownremarkableincreaseinimportsfrom India between 2010 and 2015 were the top coun-tries from which India imported footwear products, in 2015. Since 2010, the rate of import growth from these countriestoIndiahasbeenremarkablyhigh(APICCAPS2016: 70).Indian export grew by 200% over the last decade but in 2015 they declined somewhat. Indian imports have also been growing steadily and in 2015 exceeded 400 million USDforthefirsttime.BataIndiaLimited,RelaxoFoot-wears Limited, Puma Sports India Private Ltd, Adidas IndiaMarketingPrivateLimitedandSsipl.RetailLimitedarethelargestplayersintheIndianfootwearmarketwiththeir turnovers ranging from 112.6 million USD to 409.2 million USD in 2015 (Ibid.).

12

Ker- ala

Tamil Nadu

Maharasthra

Karnataka

WestBengal

Andrha Pradesh

Telangana

Uttar Pradesh

Punjab

Madhya Pradesh

Figure 6:Major leather and leather footwear production centres in India

Haryana

Chennai, Ambur, Ranipet, Vaniyambadi, Vellore, Pernambut, Trichy, Dindigul and Erode

Ambala, Gurgaon, Panchkula,Karnaland Faridabad

Kanpur, Agra, Noida, Saharanpur

Kolkata

Calicut and Ernakulam/Cochin

Mumbai

Dewas

Hyderabad

State

ProductionCenter

Bangalore

Jallandhar

2.2.1 Centres of Production

The Indian footwear industry and the leather industry havebeenseekingintegrationintoclosegeographicalclusterswithaneyeonefficientproduction.Asrelatedbya senior trade unionist from a major Ambur tannery, this process of integration has been very slow but steadily underway for the past few decades. The purpose of this as cited in a Roadmap document by the Indian Shoe Federation is manifold as noted below.3

i. Overcome the challenge faced by traditional clusters (high cost of land, non-availability of labour)

ii. Contributetologisticalefficiencyandgaintheconfi-dence of foreign investors

iii. Contributetotheskillingoftheworkforcesuppliedtothe production facilities

iv. Small and medium manufacturers can gain by sharing in the geographically concentrated infrastructure and potential sub-contracting from the larger manufacturers

v. Improved infrastructure would enhance timely deliver-ies and monitoring of product quality

In effect, integration of leather, footwear and component manufacturing sectors is seen by the industry leaders asthefutureforriskmitigationandcollectivepathwaytohigh growth models.Historically the centres for footwear production have devel-oped in geographical proximity to the leather industry. Therefore, most of the production centres of the footwear industryarecoveredintheregionsspecifiedinTable5.

3Foradetailedpresentationoftheroadmap,seeGopalakrishna2011:n.p.Source: CLE 2015: n.p.

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2.2.2 Structure of the Industry

Agra is a major production cluster for leather footwear in India catering to nearly half of the country’s domestic demandandmorethanafifthofthecountry’sexport.Roughly 40% of the city’s population is directly or indi-rectly engaged in this industry. Historical accounts trace the genesis of the Agra footwear industry to the rule of AkbarduringtheMughalperiodinIndia,wheretraderelations in Hing (a spice product)4 with Afghanistan con-tributed to the original supply of leather to the industry. As a result of India’s partition in 1947, major in-migration ofPakistaniPunjabicommunitywithstrongbusinessinterestsandacumenforfinancialmanagement,sawthelocalfootwearindustryinAgrabeingtakenoverbythem.The erstwhile local producer communities including the MuslimsandtheJatavsgotconfinedtoproductionproc-essesasthePunjabicommunitytookoverthetrade.BataIndiaLimitedwasthefirstcompanytointroducenew technologies into Agra footwear industry imme-diately after India’s independence in 1947. The 1950’s saw the beginning of exports to East African countries later boosted majorly through trade initiatives by Punjabi enterprises with connections in Delhi and Soviet Moscow in the 1980s. As export expanded to countries of Europe thegovernmenttookkeeninterestinthedevelopmentofthe industry mainly through the State Trading Corpora-tion. Imported machines from Germany laid the base for technological upgrade through the initiatives of the local forgeries. With the disintegration of the Soviet Union at the turn of 1990, the Agra production cluster did well to build upon ties with Europe and South Africa to sustain the exports (Hashim 2010: 74-91). Even as the export orientation in the Agra footwear is significant,thenumberofmodernlargefirmscateringtotheinternationalmarketaresmallinnumber.Damodaranand Mansingh (2008: n.p.) estimate that with a produc-tion capacity of about 250,000 pairs a day, the footwear industry in Agra houses roughly 50 modern factories, 150 semi-mechanized units and about 5,000 cottage units.5

4 Hing is the Indian colloquial name for the spice, Asafoetida. Even as a few varieties of Asafoetida or Hing are found in India, the country has historically depended on imports from Afghanistan and Iran for this spice product. Histori-cal accounts relate that in the Mughal period, Hing was imported to Agra from Afghanistan in leather pouches. It is these leather pouches which constituted thefirstrawmaterialsupplytolocalfootwearartisansinAgra.

5 While the data trends for these facts are not easily available, newspaper reports over the last year so have been suggesting a relative decline in leather and leather footwear production. The main reason for this has been reported as the ban on cow-slaughter in Uttar Pradesh imposed under the right-wing NDA government at the centre.

Traditionally developed localized production is also geo-graphicallysegmentedwithinAgrawithasignificantpres-ence of input suppliers. The organization of production in Agra in its local value chain integrating various types of production of units is described in the table below.

Table 5: description of hierarchical structure of local value chains in the agra footwear cluster

Level Type of Produc-tion Units

brief descrip-tion

Main functions

I Fabricators, sub-contractors, job (piece)workers

Smallscalefirmsemploying less than100workers

Jobworkforoneormorefirmsatthe same time.

II Dependent sub-contractors

Emerging in the late 1980s and early 1990s, exclusive suppli-ers to/long-term relationships with both domestic and international brands. About 100workersonan average.

Produce the entire footwear.

III Independent foot-wear producers

Produce mostly directly for exports, perform thejobworkforother export-ers. About 100 workersonanaverage.

Perform largely in-house produc-tion with very low levels of sub-contracting where the various piecesofworkare carried out by different units of a single producer factory/unit.

IV Large export firms

Donotundertakejobworkforotherfirmsbuthaveahierarchical rela-tion with sub-con-tractors supplying specificproducts.About 1,000 to 2,000workersonan average.

Producing all parts of the footwear from shoe upper to the complete shoe.

Source: Damodaran and Mansingh 2008: n.p.

14

2.2.3 Government Policy

The leather and leather products industry including the leather footwear industry in India has been treated largely as a single sector for policy purposes. This sector is important for two main reasons. One, the small-scale traditional-artisanal form that survives side-by-side with the modern industry today, which provides employment to some of the most socially and economically marginal-ized sections of the Indian society, particularly Scheduled Castes and low-income strata of the Muslim community. Two, since pre-colonial days, this industry has generated amongthemostsignificantexportearningsforthecountry. These two critical factors are addressed in the government policy by focussing on the small-scale sector development and export promotion in the leather industry. With a view to sustain and promote small-scale artisanal, rural production in the sector, the Indian government reserved the production of many segments of the leather and leather product industry for the small-scale sector from 1967. The support for the sector grew in the form of an expanding list of reserved products and subsidized financialsupportforsmallproducers.However, as relocation of production activities in the leather industry began to happen from the developed to developing countries since the mid-1970s, the policy focusonexport-promotiongrewtoovertaketheconcernfor employment-generation. Four critical moments in this paradigm shift in policy can be noted in the outcome of three important government committees for the leather and leather product industry. In 1972, the Seetharamaiah Committee sought to compre-hensively develop the export potential of the Indian indus-trybybanningofexportsofrawhidesandskins,quotarestrictionsonexportofsemi-finishedleatherandotherstepstopromoteproductionandexportoffinishedleather.In 1979, the Kaul Committee revived the focus of the gov-ernment on modernizing production by easing restrictions ontheimportofmachineryfortanning,finishing,foot-wear and leather goods. While this initiative transformed theindustrysignificantly,theoverallregulatoryfailureofthegovernmentresultedinlopsideddevelopmentslack-ing any integrated pan-industry approach focussing on clusters of enterprises. In1985thePandecommitteeidentifiedthefootwearsegment as the most important export segment for India. It was recommended that footwear export promotion required both the supply of high quality raw material and technologyaswellasaprofessionallytrainedworkforcecateringtofootwearengineering,design,patternmaking,etc. (Hashim 2010: 74-91).

With the formal embrace of liberalization and globaliza-tion in the New Economic Policy of early 1990s, export orientationoftheleatherandfootwearindustryovertookthe traditional emphasis on employment generation. Res-ervations, subsidies and such pre-liberalization meas-ures were seen as constraining the development of the domestic industry by a 1992 committee of the Indian gov-ernment.Thenewpolicytargeteda10%globalmarketshare for the Indian leather and leather products industry by the year 2010. It was sought to be achieved through a withdrawal of government interventions in favour of small-scaleindustryinordertoallowmarket-ledgrowthof the big private players who would tap into India’s competitive advantage of abundant cheap labour (Ibid.). It was assumed that such a pattern of industrial growth wouldautomaticallytakecareofemploymentgenerationthrough sub-contacting, development/transformation of smaller producers to provide supplementary services and products to the core footwear producing units, etc. (Damodaran and Mansingh 2008: n.p.).In the following decades leading to the contemporary shape of the industry, near-complete de-reservation of product segments, abolishing of licensing requirements, development of educational and training institutions and technological enhancements have realized the vision of the 1992 committee’s recommendations. The leather sector was opened up for foreign investments in 2001.However, liberalization being a two-way process has also seen rapid increase in imports of footwear, particularly from China. It has caused the displacement of domestic productionfordomesticmarketsandincreaseinrelianceontheexportmarketslikeEuropeandtheU.S.(Maity2013: 261-281). The aforementioned trajectory of India’s policy in the leather and leather product industry has resulted in a vast structure of institutions meant to support the industry and promote exports. The most prominent such institution is the Central Leather Research Institute in Chennai which conducts basic research on materials and processes. Multiple colleges of leather technology in various parts ofthecountrygroomprofessionallytrainedworkforcefortheindustry.Lowerlevelofskillsisalsodisseminatedthrough training institutes dedicated to the leather sector. InstitutionsliketheFootwearDesignandDevelopmentInstitute (FDDI) located in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, offer diplomas in footwear and leather design. The United Nations Development Programme-assisted National Leather Development Programme and the Leather Technology Mission, along with various state level leather boards and other such initiatives contribute to the institu-tionaldevelopmentalframeworkfortheindustry.Inaddi-

ChanGe YoUR ShoeS15

tion,therearemultiplebusinessassociationsthatmakeconcerted efforts for the development of their respective segments as the Ministry of Commerce’s Council for Leather Exports actively promotes the collective interest of the industry.

2.2.4 environmental Issues

Within the leather and leather products industry including leather footwear, tanneries are the most prominent source of pollutants. The tanning process in the Indian industry canbebroadlydividedintothreestages.Thefirstisthepre-tanning stage which mainly includes the processes of desalting,soaking,liming,de-liming,batingandpickling(Roy 2012: 8). The main pollutants from this stage are listed alongside the sub-stages in the table below.

Table 6 Pre-tanning stages and pollutants

Pre-tanning Stages of Produc-tion

Pollutants

Salting&Soaking Salt, hide surface impurities, dirt, globular protein, substances dissolved in water

Liming Suspended solids, sulphides, nitrogenous metals

De-liming & Baiting Calcium salt, sulphides residuals, degraded proteins & residuals, proteolytic enzymatic agents

Pickling Chromium, Chloride & Sulphates

Source: Roy 2012: 9

The second stage of tanning in which raw hides are converted into leather causes the highest pollution particularly owing to the widespread use of chromium sulphate in mineral tanning methods. In the chromium tanning method, many water soluble chemicals remain unabsorbedbythehide,therebypassingintotheeffluentwaste. Under high temperature processes the ordinarily used chromium III transforms into chromium VI which is knowntobecarcinogenic(Ibid.).Vegetabletanningusedforflexibleleatherinbaggageand furniture products also causes pollution albeit of less harmful type compared to chrome tanning. An early 2000s estimate of the pollution load in Indian tanneries is presented in the following table.

Table 7: Average pollution load in Indian tanneries

Pollution Parameters Pollution Load/ kg

Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) 5 days@ 20C 70

Chemical Oxygen Demand 180

Chloride 270

Dissolved Solids 600

Suspended Solids 100

Sulphides 4

Total Chromium in terms of Basic Chromium Sulphate (BCS)

40

Source: Rajamani 2001, Roy 2012: 11

The third stage of post-tanning processes generally does not produce any alarming levels of pollutants. Pollution control regulations in India are largely the domain of the Central Pollution Control Board which has delegated functions at the state level to the State Pol-lution Control Boards. A 1988 amendment has allowed these boards to enforce compliance to regulations through criminal prosecution and other means. The Indian Supreme Court too, with multiple judgements on regula-tionandrelocationofpollutingindustriesliketanneries,played a major role in pollution control. For instance, a judgement of the Supreme Court in the 1990s led to the rehabilitation of 538 tanneries and the formation of the Calcutta Leather Complex in line with its instructions. Measures to curb pollution from the tanneries in different states of India include the following measures. The proc-ess of chromium recovery has been effective in facilitat-ing the reuse of water after chromium extraction from the chromiumliquor.Asignificantportionoftherecoveredchromium is also reused.Tannery clusters have seen the adoption of Common EffluentTreatmentPlants(CETP),mostlyinTamilNadu.A large number of other tanneries have also opted for IndividualEffluentTreatmentPlant(IETP)solutions.The Zero Liquid Discharge Technology deploying the reverse osmosis systems has also been widely used for recoveringwaterfromtanneryeffluents.Besides these, the industry has matured to adopt various measures for conserving water and curbing pollutants. However, a problem with the prevailing approaches in India is that they focus mainly on water pollution. Air pol-lutionandsolidwastesareyettofindadequateattentionin India’s pollution regulation (Ibid.).

16

3. LaboUR RIGhTS In IndIa: naTIonaL LeGISLaTIon 6

3.1 naTIonaL oVeRVIeW oF LeGaL PRoVISIon

The Constitution of India, 1949, has been distinguished as an exemplar in aspiring to protect economic rights. RightsatworkareenshrinedinIndia’sConstitutionunder both the Directive Principles of State Policy and Fundamental Rights. Together, the Directive Principles and Fundamental Rights have been described as the “conscience of the Constitution” (Austin 1966: 50). Fun-damental Rights are distinct from Directive Principles in a way that Fundamental Rights can be enforced directly by the Supreme Court while Directive Principles aim to guidegovernanceandlawmakingbutarenon-justiciable(Ibid.).The Directive Principles of State Policy, articulated in Part IV of India’s Constitution guide the establishment of laws and policies aimed at conferring basic rights for all citizens.7 • Article 39 of the Directive Principles recognizes the

need for the state to direct its policy towards secur-ing the right to an adequate means of livelihood for all men and women, distributing ownership and control of material resources of the community to serve the common good and protecting the right to equal pay for equalwork.8

• Article 41 of the Directive Principles directs the state, within the limits of its economic capacity and develop-ment,tosecuretherighttowork,educationandsocialassistanceincasesofunemployment,oldage,sick-ness and disablement.9

6 The analysis of Indian labour laws was compiled by S. S. Bhattacharjee, drawing from her 2016 report Examining India’s Labour Law Changes: Princi-ples of Rights, Inclusion and Employment Security.

7 Together, the Fundamental Rights, Directive Principles of State Policy and Fundamental Duties sections of the Constitution of India comprise a constitu-tional bill of rights that guides government action.

8 Constitution of India, 1949, art. 39: “The State shall, in particular, direct its policy towards securing—(a) that the citizens, men and women equally, have the right to an adequate means of livelihood; (b) that the ownership and control of the material resources of the community are so distributed as to best subserve the common good; (c) that the operation of the economic system does not result in the concentration of wealth and means of production to the commondetriment;(d)thatthereisequalpayforequalworkforbothmenandwomen;(e)thatthehealthandstrengthofworkers,menandwomen,andthe tender age of children are not abused and that citizens are not forced by economic necessity to enter avocations unsuited to their age or strength; (f) that children are given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy man-ner and in conditions of freedom and dignity and that childhood and youth are protected against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment.

9ConstitutionofIndia,1949,art.41:“Righttowork,toeducationandtopublicassistance in certain cases—The State shall, within the limits of its economic capacityanddevelopment,makeeffectiveprovisionforsecuringtherighttowork,toeducationandtopublicassistanceincasesofunemployment,oldage,sicknessanddisablement,andinothercasesofundeservedwant.”

• Article 43 of the Directive Principles calls for just and humaneconditionsofwork,includingmaternityleave,alivingwageandconditionsofworkthatensureadecent standard of life.10

• Under Article 46 of the Directive Principles, the State is charged with promoting the economic interests of particularly the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.11

Constitutionally protected Fundamental Rights are articulated in Part III of the Constitution. The fundamental rights to non-discrimination in matters of employment and freedom of association are also particularly relevant to labour regulation. • Article 16 (2) of the Fundamental Rights sets forth

that no citizen shall – on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth, residence or any other grounds – be ineligible for, or discriminated against in respect of any public employment.12

• Article 19, of the Fundamental Rights guarantees all citizens the fundamental right to form associations or unions.13 The right to form associations, is not, however, absolute: clause 4 of Article 19(1), empow-ers the state to restrict the fundamental right to form associations in the interests of national sovereignty and integrity.

• Under Article 21, the right to life has been interpreted to be more than mere physical existence and “includes the right to live with human dignity and all that goes along with it”14 – including the right to livelihood.15

Someoftheseconstitutionalprotectionsfindarticulationinthelegalframeworkgoverninglabourandemploymentrelations in India. In particular, India’s labour laws have madesignificantheadwayinprotectingindividualrightsatwork.

10ConstitutionofIndia,1949,art.43:“Livingwage,etc.,forworkers—TheState shall endeavor to secure, by suitable legislation or economic organiza-tionorinanyotherway,toallworkers,agricultural,industrialorotherwise,work,alivingwage,conditionsofworkensuringadecentstandardoflifeandfull enjoyment of leisure and social and cultural opportunities and, in particular, the State shall endeavor to promote cottage industries on an individual or co-operative basis in rural areas.”

11 Constitution of India, 1949, art. 46: “Promotion of education and economic interestsofScheduledCastes,ScheduledTribesandotherweakersections.The State shall promote with special care the educational and economic inter-estsoftheweakersectionsofthepeople,and,inparticular,oftheScheduledCastes and the Scheduled Tribes, and shall protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation.”

12 Constitution of India, 1949, art. 16(2): “No citizen shall, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth, residence or any of them, be ineligiblefor,ordiscriminatedagainstinrespectof,anyemploymentorofficeunder the state.””

13 Constitution of India, 1949, art. 19(1)(c): “All citizens shall have the right—to form associations or unions.”

14 Francis Coralie v. Union Territory of Delhi AIR 1981 SC 746, 753.

15 Olga Tellis v. Bombay Municipal Corp, AIR 1986 SC 180; DTC Corp v. DTC Mazdoor Congress AIR 1991 SC 101.

ChanGe YoUR ShoeS17

Leather shoe production in India is very labour-intensive and often manual work.

India has upwards of 150 separate pieces of labour legislation arising from central and state governments. Accordingly, understanding the regulatory context of con-temporarylabourlawisacomplexundertaking.Withinthis report, particular laws and policies relevant to the leather and shoe industries are given in context of more detailed discussions on freedom of association, social insurance,occupationalsafetyandhealth,workerportraitchild labour, living wage and labour contracts.However,itissignificanttonote,thatdespiteextensivelabourlegislation,mostworkersinIndiaremainout-side the ambit of this protection. The use of standard employment models continues to decline and employer-employee relationships are increasingly ambiguous. The National Commission on Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector(NCEUS)definesunorganizedworkerstoincludebothworkersinunorganizedenterprisesandhouseholds,andworkersintheorganizedsectorwhoarenotpro-videdwithanyemploymentorsocialsecuritybenefits.Incommon parlance the terms organized and unorganized sector are used interchangeably with the terms formal and informal sector (Pratap 2014: n.p.). InIndia’scontemporarylabourmarket,theboundariesbetween the organized and unorganized sectors are eroding as precarious employment relationships increase

within organized sectors, the public sector and the econ-omyasawhole.Theproportionofunorganizedworkersin the organized sector rose to 51% in 2009-2010. By 2009-2010,withoutaccountingforunorganizedworkerswithinthepublicsector,92%ofallworkersintheorgan-ized and unorganized sectors were effectively in unor-ganized employment. Put another way: more than 400 millionworkersinIndiaareemployedwithlowwages,little job security and no entitlement to state protection oftheirrightsatwork.In2004-2005,95%ofScheduledCasteandScheduledTribeworkerswereemployedinthe unorganized sector. This situation has not fundamen-tally changed in the last decade (Sengupta et al. 2008: 49-63).In 2015, the Indian government proposed a series of labourlawschangesthatwouldfurtherweakenprotec-tionforworkersinthegarmentindustry.Theproposed2015 Draft Code on Wages dilutes protective standards, including minimum wage standards, prohibitions on gen-der-based discrimination in remuneration and protected bonuses; opens the door to rights abuses, including arbitrary and illegal wage deductions and forced labour; and undermines accountability by dismantling labour law inspection and accountability mechanisms, restricting the functioningofworkersorganizationsandtradeunions

© Christina Schröder, Südwind

18

The highly toxic sludge often leaves the tanneries as untreated waste water.

and systematically undermining access to justice. The proposed 2015 Draft Code on Industrial Relations undermines the rights of trade unions by creating barriers to registration, imposing restrictions on union govern-ance structures, reducing obstacles to canceling union registrationandprohibitingstrikesandlockouts.Work-ers are also increasingly vulnerable to retrenchment and changes in service without prior notice. The 2015 Draft CodeonIndustrialRelationssimultaneouslyweakensaccountability for upholding labour standards by dilut-ing government inspection authority, removing existing arbitration forums and appeals mechanisms and lowering incentives to speedily resolve industrial disputes. Finally, standing orders—establishing conditions and regula-tions—no longer apply to establishments with less than 100workers.Standingorders,moreover,cannowbeestablishedwithoutworkers’inputaspreviouslyrequiredunder the principle act.Inthisbackdrop,chapter3.2to3.5presentthescopeofrelevant national labour legislations in India with some historicalcontextandfutureoutlookwherepossible.

3.2 FReedoM oF aSSoCIaTIon

Relevant legal and constitutional provisionsTheregulatoryframeworkundergirdingindustrialrela-tions in present-day India was introduced during the 1920’s.SignificantlegislationincludedtheTradeUnionsAct, 1926 and Trade Disputes Act, 1929. The Trade Unions Act, 1926, provided for registration of trade unions, gave unions legal status and extended some protection against civil and criminal liability in the course of industrial disputes. However, both the Trade Unions Act, 1926 and Trade Disputes Act, 1929 remained limited in their protection of freedom of association and collec-tive bargaining. Unregistered unions were excluded from protection and the legislation did not obligate employers to bargain with registered unions. The Trade Disputes Act,1929,severelylimitedtherighttostrikeandrequiredreferral of industrial disputes to a conciliation board or court of enquiry—although the outcomes of a referral were not binding upon the parties.The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 applied conditions underwhichworkerswereallowedtostrikeanddistin-guishedbetweenlegalandillegalstrikes.Theactdes-ignated no procedures to determine the representative union in a particular bargaining unit. Since employers were under no legal obligation to bargain with unions, there was no incentive for collective bargaining. Instead privileging strong state intervention in industrial disputes, compulsory arbitration lies at the core of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, permitting the state to force any con-flictintocompulsoryarbitrationandtodeclareanystrikeorlockoutillegal.Theseprovisionsallowedthestateto intervene in industrial disputes and direct industrial relationships through civil dispute mechanisms. For the most part, under these provisions, disputes were referred to conciliation, then to the labour commissioner—and if these mechanisms failed, disputes were settled in indus-trial courts, labour courts or through binding arbitration.Incontextofglobalmarketization,India’slabourlawshave been critiqued for facilitating the rising power of unionsandprotectingrightsatwork.Inparticular,criti-cismwasleveledagainstinefficiencyinIndia’sstatemachinery for adjudicating industrial disputes and the 1982 amendments to the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 that were seen as curtailing employers’ rights and enhancing bargaining power of unions.Such critiques have been mobilized to advocate for labour law reforms that increase workforce flexibility, decreasethe bargaining authority of trade unions and diminish the reach of India’s state labour regulatory apparatus. While de jure labour law reforms have been slower to

© Tanja Kjeldgaard, CCC DK

ChanGe YoUR ShoeS19

materializeover the last twenty-fiveyears industrial rela-tions have been de facto restructured along these lines. The 1991 reform climate prompted systematic downsiz-ingoftheorganizedworkforce.Micro-levelstudiesofthis period have documented large-scale employment adjustmentsinresponsetoadversedemandshocks.For instance, due to the collapse of Ahmedabad’s textile factoriesinthe1980sand1990s,36,000workerslosttheir jobs between 1983 and 1984. Other systematic measurestoachievelabourflexibilityduringthisperiodhave included illegal closures, increased use of contract labour, outsourcing and subcontracting. As a result of such systematic downsizing of the organized sector, workerswereincreasinglychanneledintodeliveringflex-ible, labour intensive production activities at low cost and without wage, job or social security. Reducing the bargaining power of what remains of the organized industrial sector, 2001 amendments to the Trade Unions Act, 1926 required unions to have at least 100membersortorepresentatleast10%ofthework-forceinordertoregisterundertheAct—makingtheformation and registration of unions far more challenging than had previously been the case.

3.3 SoCIaL InSURanCe

Relevant legal and constitutional provisionsStrengtheningprotectionforindividualworkers’rightswas articulated as the responsibility of the central government.Thecentralgovernmentwastaskedwith“dealingwithallphasesoftheworker’slife,”–including“housing,welfare,work,betterworkingconditionsandfair wages.”16 Ideas of social justice and the role of the welfare state, articulated by the national movement for Independence and enshrined in the Indian Constitution, were articulated as the grounds for labour regulations aimedatadvancingworkers’rightsinthisperiod(Papolaand Pais 2007: 185). Consistent with these articulated objectives, a range of protective legislation was intro-duced between 1946 and 1962. Highlights include:• Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948, providing a

systemofinsuranceincasesofsickness,maternity,injury, disablement and death;17

• Employees’ Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952,providingretirementbenefitstoemployees through provident funds, pensions funds anddepositlinkedinsurancefunds;18

16 Id. 421.17 Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948, No. 34 of 1948 (19 April 1948).

18 Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, No. 19 of 1952 (4 March 1952).

• Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, securing payment of an annual bonus to all employees receiving wages below aspecifiedlimit.19

3.4 oCCUPaTIonaL SaFeTY and heaLTh

Relevant legal and constitutional provisionsIndia’sFactoriesAct,1948regulatesconditionsofworkinmanufacturing establishments to ensure adequate safety, sanitation,health,welfaremeasures,hoursofworkandleaveparametersforworkersemployedinfactories.The1987amendmenttotheFactoriesAct,1948gavework-ers the right to information about the nature and extent ofworkplacehazardsandhelddirectorsofcompaniesresponsibleforrisksimposedbyhazardouswasteandother dangers.Under proposed labour law changes, factories employing 10-40workerswillbegovernedbytheSmallFactories(Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Services)Bill, 2014. The 2014 Small Factories Bill suspends applic- ation of 14 labour laws to small units.20 The bill also reduces standards for health and safety established under the Factories Act, 1948. The bill does not con-tain provisions relating to maintenance of cleanliness, adequate ventilation, suitable temperature, measures to containdustandfumes,andthesafetyofpersonswork-ing on machines. It also does not contain any provisions relating to provision of personal protective equipment, periodicmedicaltestingofworkers,reportingofwork-related accidents and injuries and occupational diseases to the labour authorities. In the circumstances, the provi-sions relating to health and safety in the bill cannot be said to be adequate.Definingafactoryassmallbasedonlyuponthenumberofworkersemployedinthefactorydoesnotadequatelyaccount for variation in capital investment, turnover andvolumeofoutput.Further,sizebasedclassificationprovides incentives to employers to spread manufactur-ingworkovermorethanonefactorytoseekexemptionsunder the act. It is unclear what law will apply to industrial unitswith1–9workers.

19 Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, No. 21 of 1965 (25 September 1965).

20 The following labour laws are not applicable to small factories under the 2014 Bill: Factories Act, 1947; Industrial Disputes Act, 1947; Industrial Employ-ment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946); Minimum Wages Act, 1948; Payment of Wages Act, 1936; Payment of Bonus Act, 1965; Employees State Insurance Act, 1948; Employees Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952;MaternityBenefitAct,1961;EmployeesCompensationAct,1923;Inter-stateMigrantWorkmen(RegulationofEmploymentandConditionsofService)Act, 1979; (State) Shops and Establishments Acts, Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 and Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986.

20

3.5 LaboUR ConTRaCT and MInIMUM WaGeS

The Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 requires employers to provide employees with clear termsofemploymentassetdownbyacertifiedemploy-ment Schedule.21 Besides that, the foregoing discussions on various major labour rights legislations in India under-scorethenecessityofclearlydefinedlabourcontractsfortheworkerstobeabletoclaimtheirrights.However,India’s National Commission on Enterprises in the Unor-ganizedSector(NCEUS)hasidentifiedrampanttrendsofdeclineinthehiringofworkersonaregularcontract,as short-term and irregular contracts are emerging as the basis of most recent recruitments in the Indian indus-tries (Pratap 2015: n.p.; Sridhar 2014: n.p.). Casual and contractworkerslackjobsecurity,socialsecuritybenefitsand freedom of association. This facilitates the sidestep-ping of statutory obligations by employers and creates a constantstateofinsecurityforworkers.

Contrary to economic assumptions that wages and productivity move in tandem, data from the 2013 Annual SurveyofIndustriesdatashowsthatworkers’realwages have been stagnant in India between 1983 and 2013 while real productivity has increased at an annual average rate of 7%. While a large part of this growth is attributedtoincreasingmechanization,requiringworkerstoupgradetheirskills,thishasnottranslatedintohigherwages (Singh 2015: n.p.) Data from the last 25 years showsthatwagesforIndianworkershavebarelykeptupwithinflation.Accountingforinflationandcalculatingin2011-12prices,ifaworkerearnedRs.8,154permonthin1990-91, they earned only Rs. 7,972 per month in 2011-12.Inrealterms,workerstodayearnlessproportionallythan they did in 1990 (Yadav 2015: n.p.).Labour laws protecting wage standards in India include the Payment of Wages Act, 1936.22 Minimum Wages Act, 1948,23 Payment of Bonus Act, 196524 and Equal Remu-neration Act, 1976.25

21 Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946, No. 20 of 1946 (23 April 1946).

22 Payment of Wages Act, 1936, No. 4 of 1936 (23 April 1936).

23 Minimum Wages Act, 1948, No. 11 of 1948 (15 March 1948).

24 Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, No. 21 of 1965 (25 September 1965).

25 Equal Remuneration Act, 1976, No. 25 of 1976 (11 February 1976).

4. LaboUR RIGhTS VIoLaTIonS In IndIan LeaTheR and FooTWeaR IndUSTRY

Asdescribedthroughworkers’testimoniesinthefollow-ingsections,theworkersoftheleatherandfootwearindustry in India face widespread and systematic violation of their labour rights. The Society for Labour and Devel-opment, New Delhi has conducted primary research to investigate the nature and extent of these rights violations in two prominent production clusters of India- Ambur, Tamil Nadu and Agra, Uttar Pradesh. The investigations inAmburengagedwithworkersinbothfootwearproduc-tion factories and leather tanneries. However, in Agra the researchfocussedonfootwearfactoryworkersexclu-sively.Thefollowingsectiondiscussesthefindingsoftheprimary research.

4.1 MeThodoLoGY

The present study is based on a survey of secondary literature and data along with the primary data collected through232in-depthinterviewswithworkersfromfoot-wear manufacturing and leather production industry in India. The interviews were conducted in two of the most important production clusters in India – 119 interviews of footwearfactoryworkersintheAgradistrictinthestateof Uttar Pradesh and 113 interviews with footwear fac-toryandleathertanneryworkersintheAmburclusterofthe Vellore district of Tamil Nadu. Of the 113 interviews conductedinAmbur,51werewithtanneryworkers.Therespondentsinbothoftheseplaceswereidentifiedusingthesnowballingtechnique.Thedatacollectiontookplacebetween August and November, 2015. Thetypeofworkdonebyourrespondentsinfootwearfactoriesincludedpasting,cutting,stitching,finishing,lasting,packaging,etc.Tanneryworkerswereinvolvedinworkslikebuffingandskinning,auto-spray,vacuum,crusting,colouring,cleaning,dyeing,finishing,stretchingtheskin,packing,spiriting,etc.The interviews were conducted using a semi-structured interview schedule. The schedule aimed to compre-hensivelycapturespecificaspectsofviolationoflabourrights under the India labour laws. The interviews drew on a questionnaire developed within the ‘Change Your Shoes’ project and incorporating fundamental Interna-tional Labour Organisation (ILO) standards. The same questionnaire was the basis for data collection in other producing countries, for example China and Indonesia. Most questions are informed by the ILO conventions.

ChanGe YoUR ShoeS21

Other questions gather personal information about the interviewee and one section on legally binding employ-ment contracts follows ‘Clean Clothes Campaign’ guidelines.

Table 8 Status of relevant ILO-Conventions in India:

In addition to national legislation India has ratified the followingILo core labour standards

date Status

C100 – Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) 25 Sep 1958 In Force

C111 – Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) 03 Jun 1960 In Force

C029 – Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) 30 Nov 1954 In Force

C105 – Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) 18 May 2000 In Force

India has not ratified the following ILO core labour standards

C087 – Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87)

C098 – Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98)

C138 – Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138)

C182 – Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182)

The following additional ILo-Conventions are relevant for this study date Status

C001–HoursofWorkConvention Notratified

C026 – Minimum Wage-Fixing Machinery Convention, 1928 (No. 26) 10 Jan 1955 In Force

C131 – Minimum Wage Fixing Convention Notratified

C155 – Occupational Safety and Health Convention Notratified

C005 – Minimum Age (Industry) Convention, 1919 (No. 5) 09 Sep 1955 In Force

C006–NightWorkofYoungPersons(Industry)Convention,1919(No.6) 14 Jul 1921 In Force

C018–Workmen’sCompensation(OccupationalDiseases)Convention,1925(No.18) 30 Sep 1927 In Force

C081 – Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81)Excluding Part II 07 Apr 1949 In Force

C089-NightWork(Women)Convention(Revised),1948(No.89)P089-Protocolof1990totheNightWork(Women)Convention(Revised),1948ratifiedon21Nov2003(InForce)HasratifiedtheProtocolof1990

27 Feb 1950 In Force

C090-NightWorkofYoungPersons(Industry)Convention(Revised),1948(No.90) 27 Feb 1950 In Force

C118 - Equality of Treatment (Social Security) Convention, 1962 (No. 118)Has accepted Branches (a) to (c)

19 Aug 1964 In Force

Alongsideitsnationallabourlaws,Indiahasratifiedthefollowing ILO core labour standards. India is yet to ratify some of the fundamental ILO conventions critical to pro-tection of labour rights.

22

0000

10 2 5 38 55

5 6

Female 41% Male 59%

4.1.1 Profile of the workforce in Ambur

Theworkforceintheleatherindustryisdistributedacrossthe three broad types of production units discussed in the structureoftheindustrysection.Mostnumberofworkerswithin production units are employed generally at the Level III. In this industry even at the bottom of the value chain wheresmallunitsareengagedinjobwork,thedivisionoflabourisclearlydefined.Thoseworkingwithmachinesanddrumsarecategorizedasskilledworkers,whereasthoseusingbasichand-toolsforprocesseslikedehair-ingandfleshingareconsideredsemi-skilled.Alltheothercategoriesofworkerslikei.e.cleanersandhelpersareconsideredunskilledintheindustry.TheworkforceintheTamilNaduclustersconsistsoftradi-tionalleatherworkercastessuchasChakkiliyansandtheParaiyans (both Scheduled Castes), who perform the so-called ‘dirty operations’ in the tanning industry. It has also been seen that other castes from the Scheduled Caste categoryhavegraduallyenteredtheworkforcewithouttra-ditionalknowledgeofthework.Muslimworkershavealsoenteredtheworkforceinnumbersnowalmostassignifi-cant as the Scheduled Castes. The reason for their entry is explained in terms of the organizational transition in the industry to more mechanized systems. The mostly Muslim owners in the industry were apprehensive of the tradi-tionalScheduledCasteworkers’capacitytoadapttothenew production processes. They decided to bring in new Muslimworkerstosmoothenthetransitioninthewakeofthe Seetharamaiah Committee’s26 recommendations in the 1970s.SinceunlikethelocalScheduledCasteworkers,theMuslimworkerswerenottraditionallyentrenchedintheoldwaysofworking,theyweredeemedmoresuit-able to be trained with the new techniques. Despite the numerical dominance of the Scheduled Caste and Muslim communitiesintheworkforce,communityidentitydoesnotperform exclusionary functions when it comes to entry into theworkforce.Ithasalsobeennotedthatunlikethegeneraltrendofcaste-basedsegmentationoftheworkforceintheleatherindustry in other parts of the country, Tamil Nadu clusters have seen more of gender-based segmentation. Women aregenerallyemployedinthetanningindustryinsignifi-cantnumbersinthefinishingjobsandnotsomuchintheearlier stages. Possible explanations for this gender-seg-regationwithintheworkforcecouldbethetraditionaldomi-nance of men in the other jobs and entrenched patriarchal valuesunderminingtherecognitionofskillsandcapacityto perform in higher-paying jobs for women. The nature ofworkforthewomenremainsdegradingandarduous.26 See Chapter 2.2, Government Policy

Primary data collected for this study offers a review of the structureofworkforceintheleatherandleatherproductsindustryoftheAmburclusterincludingfootwearworkers.

Ofthe113shoefactoryworkersinterviewedinAmbur,67weremaleand46werefemaleworkers.Thesamplewasdrawn from across 9 leather shoe factories and 9 tanner-ies.51ofthe113respondentsweretanneryworkers. Figure 7: Gender Composition of the workforce in Ambur

59+41All but one respondent were above 21 years and under 50 years of age; the maximum number 28 falling in the 31 to 35 years’ age group.

Figure 8: Age profile of the workers in Ambur

51–55 141–50 2356–50 2531–35 2826–30 2621–25 10

Only 11 out of the 113 respondents were illiterate. Most of the respondents had received up to secondary educa-tion- 55 men and 38 women.

Figure 9: Educational profile of the workforce by gender in ambur

Technical Educational

Post Graduate

Graduate

Higher Secondary

Secondary

Illiterate

ChanGe YoUR ShoeS23

SC 96%

OBC 4%

Female 38% Male 62%

Illiterate35%

Primary21%

No Answer 9%

Higher Secondary2%

Secondary33%

tionasfitters.Giventhecomplementaryexistenceofhome-based small units with the medium and large pro-ductionunits,theworkerstendtohonetheirtraditionalskillsinthejobfirstinsmallerhome-basedunitsandthen progress to employment in factories. However, the progressionisnotone-wayandworkerskeepshufflingbetween larger factories and smaller units in their career.

Based on the primary data collected for this study, of the 119shoefactoryworkersinterviewedinAgra,74weremaleand45werefemaleworkers.

Figure 12: Gender composition of workers in agra

62+38Most of the respondents (76%) belonged to the age-group of 18 to 35 years.

Figure 13: Age profile of the workers in Agra

51–55 141–50 1036–40 1731–35 2626–30 2918–25 36

42outofthe119workerswereilliterate.Oftherest,66workersreportedhavingundergoneprimarytohighersec-ondarylevelofschooling.26outofthe45womenworkersreported having gone through some level of schooling.

Figure 14: Educational qualification of workers in Agra

35+21+33+2+9

Almost all the respondents were married except 3 men and 8 women. Almost all the respondents reported their permanent residence as Ambur or one of the neighbour-ing areas of Kanchipuram.

TheworkersinterviewedwerepredominantlyfromtheScheduled Caste community – 108 out of the 113. The 5 othercamefromOtherBackwardClasses(OBC).

Figure 10: Social composition of the workforce in ambur

4+96The following graph describes the duration of employ-mentoftherespondentsintheircurrentworkplace.Mostoftherespondentsreportedworkingformorethan20yearsinthesameplace,reflectingasignificantlevelofjob security in Ambur. Figure 11: Years of employment in the present workplace in ambur

No answer 1146 to 50 yrs 641 to 45 yrs 636 to 40 yrs 931 to 35 yrs 726 to 30 yrs 1521 to 25 yrs 30 16 to 20 yrs 510 to 15yrs 125 to 10 yrs 101 to 5 yrs 2

4.1.2 Profile of the Workforce in Agra

A particular Scheduled Caste of Jatavs along with Muslim workersdominatestheworkforceintheAgrafootwearindustry. However, the composition of the export-oriented units’workforceisnotsoclearlydeterminedbythecasteand community factors. As in Tamil Nadu, in Agra too womenfindthemselvesconfinedtolow-payingarduousjobs, often as helpers and sometimes in upper produc-

24

No Answer 13%

Minority 9%

General 3%

OBC 7%

ST 5%

SC 63%

Since beginning 3%

16–20 years 2%

11–15 years 3%

6–10 years 48%

Less than 1 year 1%

1–5 years 43%

33 out of the 45 women respondents and 58 of the 74 male respondents were married.All the respondents reported their permanent residence in Agra and 106 out of the total had been residing in Agra since birth.

Majority of the respondents, that is, 75 out of 119, reported belonging to the socio-economically marginal-ized Scheduled Caste (SC) communities. Another 25 respondents belong to other marginalized communities, viz.ScheduledTribes(ST),OtherBackwardClasses(OBC) and minority religious groups. 15 of the respond-entsrefusedtorevealtheirsocialbackgroundandonly4reported belonging to the general category.

Figure 15: Social background of Workers in agra

63+5+7+3+9+1371ofthetotalrespondentsworkedin3prominentshoefactories, namely, Metro & Metro (25 respondents), Tej Shoes (24 respondents) and Roger International (22 respondents).

51oftherespondentshadbeenworkinginthepresentfactory for 5 years or lesser. 57 of the respondents had been employed in the present factory for 6 to 10 years at thetimeoftheinterview.Therewereabout10workerswho reported being employed in the present factory for more than 11 years.

Figure 16: duration of present employment in agra

1+43+48+3+2+3

4.2 FaCToRY CaSe STUdIeS FRoM aGRa

This section examines global supply chain relations of two prominent footwear manufacturing companies in Agra,alongwithasystematicassessmentoftheworkingconditions in their production factories.

4.2.1 Tej Group, agra

Established in 1962, the Tej Group is a leading supplier toEuropeanbrandslikeBalducci,Deichmann,HushPuppies(Bata)andRieker(TejGroup2015a:n.p.).TheTej Group also owns two brands of its own, viz. TSF and AZA (Tej Group 2015b: n.p.).BesideskeyEuropeancountriesliketheUK,Belgium,CzechRepublic,Norway,Denmark,Finland,Greece,Spain, Germany, Sweden, Hungary, France and Swit-zerland, the company also supplies footwear products tomanyothercountriesandregionslikeAustralia,USA,Canada, Kuwait, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South East Asia, Jordan and the UAE. The company claims average production rates of 15,000 pairs of shoes every day which include 3,000 pairs of injection footwear, 7,000 pairs of hand-stitched and San Crispino footwear and 5,000 pairs of cemented footwear (Ibid.). Ourstudyincludedinterviewswith24workerscurrentlyemployed in the factories of the Tej Group. 16 of them performthejoboffitters,whiletheremainingperformotherfunctionslikecutting,bottom-making,pastingsolesandmiscellaneousunskilledwork.

Main forms of employment. 21 of the respondents were paid either daily wages or by piece-rates, whereas the remaining were employed through contractors. These are the dominant forms of employment in these factories.

Labour contracts and social security. Almost all theworkersreportednotreceivinganyformalletterof appointment or job contracts. Verbal agreements betweenlabourcontractorsandtheworkersarethenorm. In the absence of any other proof of employment suchasidentitycards,workersreportedblanketexclu-sionfromanysocialsecuritybenefitslikeProvidentFund(PF) and Employees’ State Insurance (ESI).

exploitation based on traditional gender and caste norms.ThecastecompositionoftheworkforceintheleatherandshoeindustriesinIndiaunmistakablytesti-fiestothecruelpersistenceoftheoppressiveHindu

ChanGe YoUR ShoeS25

varna(caste)system.Almostalltheworkersbelongedto the Scheduled Castes and other socially marginalized groups. Further, gender-based discrimination in the industry deniesequalrecognitiontowomen’sworkandskills.Womenremainconfinedtorelativelyunskilledandlow-paying positions of helpers and hand-stitching. Women aregenerallypaidlowerthanmeninthesamework,evenastheyworkwithoutanysupportsystemslikecrèche facilities for their children or a legally required internal complaints committee to address issues of sexual harassment.

Living Wages. 14ofthe24workersreportedmonthlyincomes27 between Rs 5000 and Rs 7000, whereas the rest reported slightly higher incomes in the range of Rs 7000 to Rs 9000. These incomes are far below the levels advocatedaslivingwagesforsuchworkers.(Seechap-ter 4.5.4)

Working hours, overtime and forced labour. Given the abysmallylowincomesoftheworkers,alargenumberofthemchoosetoworkonthepiece-ratesystemwheretheir income becomes directly proportional to their daily productivity. In this system, in order to earn more every day,workersputin8to12hoursaday.Thepiece-ratesystem as observed in Agra precludes the notion of over-timeworkandtheratesofpaymentdonotincreaseforovertime hours. Moreover, this employment system also doesnotprovideweekly,sick,casualoranyotherformofleaves. Within this context it can be fairly argued that the overtimeworkamountstoforcedlabourthrustuponextremelypoorworkersbytheinadequacyofprevailingwage rates.

Freedom of association and the right to collec-tive bargaining. Only5outofthe24workersreportedawarenessaboutthesignificanceandfunctionsofaworkers’union.ThesurveyedfactoriesofTejgroupthem-selvesdonothaveanyworkers’union.Workers’issuesare dealt with by them individually approaching their supervisor or contractor.

health and safety. The respondents reported non-availabilityofanyfirst-aidkitsintheirworkplaces.Theyare not provided any safety equipment or made aware of possiblework-relatedhazardoussituationsandrescuesystems that might be needed.

27 AllincomesforworkersinAgraandAmburreportedfromtheprimarydataarerealnetwagesthatworkerstakehome.

Burns and cuts are common injuries suffered frequently bytheworkers.GiventheirsystematicexclusionfromtheESI services, they have to bear entire medical costs for their own treatment.

4.2.2 Roger Industries Ltd. agra

Established in 1979, Roger Industries Ltd. (formerly Roger Exports) supplies footwear products to most Euro-pean countries as well as the US, South Africa, China, Taiwan, Russia, Japan, Australia and others (Roger 2015). Interviewees stated that one of its European buyer brands is Deichmann. Deichmann, however, assured the authors of this report that Deichmann is not sourcing any products from this factory.The company claims a production capacity of 100,000 pairs per month (Ibid.). They have an in-house testing systemtoundertaketheinspectionofproductsateachstage of the production. Ourstudyincludedinterviewswith22workerscurrentlyemployed in the factories of the Roger Industries Ltd. 11 of them perform the job of fitters28, while the remaining performotherfunctionslikecutting,bottom-making,past-ingsolesandmiscellaneousunskilledwork.

Main forms of employment. Among the 22 respond-ents,20workerswererecruitedonpiece-rateordailywage, while the remaining were hired through contrac-tors. Piece rate and contract systems are the dominant systems of employment in these factories.

Labour contracts and social security. TheworkersinthefactoriesofRogerfacesimilarconditionsasthework-ers in Tej when it comes to written letters of appointment orjobcontracts.Alltheworkersreportedverbalagree-ment with the supervisors and contractors as the only basis of their recruitment. They also reported not getting any identity cards and not receiving social security ben-efitslikePFandESI.

exploitation based on traditional gender and caste norms.WorkersinRogerreportedsimilarpracticesofgender discrimination as Tej. The predominant number ofScheduledCasteworkersinoursample,incaseofRoger as well, is testimony to the deeply-entrenched varna-based occupational norms in the industry.

28 Shoefittersareskilledworkersresponsibleforkeepingthemeasures/sizes of the shoes to set standards.

26

Living Wages.8ofthe22workersreportedmonthlyincomes between Rs 4000 and Rs 6000, whereas 11 reported slightly higher incomes in the range of Rs 6000 toRs8000.Only3oftheworkersreportedreceivingmonthly incomes above Rs 8000. Payments of wages aregenerallymadeonaweeklybasisbuttheworkersarenotgivenanypaymentslips.Workersreportednotreceivinganybonusorgratuitybenefitseither.Workerssaidthattheirwagesarenotsufficientfordecentliving, therefore, they generally do cost cutting in food and children’s education to survive. The wage levels in Roger factories are far lower than prevailing living wage stand-ards and at the same time violate the legally mandated minimum wage norms of Uttar Pradesh. (See chapter 3.5)

Working hours, overtime and forced labour. As in Tej factories, abysmally low incomes coupled with the preva-lence of the piece-rate system of wage calculation in Rogerfactoriestoo,compeltheworkerstoworkfor8to12hourslongworkdayswithoutanyovertimepayments.Weekly,sick,casualandotherregularformsofleaveinstandard employment systems are absent in the piece-ratesystemofwork.

Freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining. None of the 22 respondents reported any awarenessaboutthesignificanceandfunctionsofwork-ers’ unions. None of the factories had any unions and workersreportedinformalandindividualizedgrievanceredressal systems similar to the Tej factories.

health and safety. WorkersfromtheRogerfactoriesreportedsimilarlackofhealthandsafetymeasuresasinTej factories.

4.3 WoRkeR PoRTRaITS oF FooTWeaR and LeaTheR TanneRY WoRkeRS FRoM aMbUR

Thissectionpresentstheworkerportraitsofawomanfootwearfactoryworkerandaseniormaleworkerfromaleather tannery in Ambur.

4.3.1 kamakshi, footwear factory worker, ambur 29 Kamakshi(namechangedoninterviewee’srequest)isa38-year-oldwomanfromtheOtherBackwardClassescategoryworkinginAmbur’sfootwearindustryforthelast22 years. Right after completing her school education and notyetanadult,shejoinedworkinashoefactorytosup-plement the income of her poor father. She has continued

29 TranscriptionoftheinterviewrecordingavailableonfilewithSLD.

toworkaftermarriagetosupplementtheincomeofherhusband. With decades of experience in the cutting depart-ment(consideredskilled),sheisentitledtoabasicpayofRs 4500, and her gross monthly salary varies between Rs 7000 to Rs 9000 a month. Her long days begin with tending to domestic chores and herchildrenbeforeleavingforwork.Inthecuttingdepart-mentatwork,shestandsalldayworkingundertheclosewatch of her supervisor who is there to ensure that she meetsherdailycuttingtargetswithhighqualityworkandminimum wastage of leather. The supervisors’ watch is tightlyalignedwiththeforeignbuyer’sspecifications.WhileunliketheshoefactoriesofAgra,Kamakshi’sfactoryhasfacilitieslikecanteen,dininghall,anurseforfirstaidservices in case of accidents, and even a crèche, the taxing conditionsoftheworkdotaketheirtollontheworkers’health.Kamakshitellsthatworkingallday,standingup,causesarthritisandjointpainsformany.Shealsotellsthatworkingin the stench of leather and chemicals in the factory causes occasionaldizzinessandkillherappetiteevenafteraharddayofwork.Besides,work-relatedinjuriesarealsocommon,particularlyfortheworkersinthestitchingdepartment.Kamakshidoesacknowledgethatthemanagementappearstobelenientwithhigh-performingworkers,allowingthemsmallbreaksinadditiontothehalf-an-hourlunchbreak.However,shealsofeelsdissatisfiedwiththe absence of any effective grievance redressal mecha-nisms. Aware of her labour rights, she suspects a collusion betweenthegovernment’slabourdepartmentofficialsand the management. Labour inspections, which are few andfarbetween,makenoefforttoreachouttoworkerstoaddresstheirissues.Kamakshifeelsthateventheworkers’union in her factory has been co-opted by the manage-ment,leavingtheworkerstofendfortheirindividualissues.Withmorethantwodecadesofworkexperienceandnoalternativeavenuesoflivelihoodinsight,Kamakshiwishesthemanagementcaredalittlemorefortheirworkers.

4.3.2 Manikkyam, Leather tannery worker, ambur30

Manikkyam(namechangedonrequestoftheinterviewee)is a senior trade union leader from one of the biggest tan-neries in Tamil Nadu, the T. Abdul Wahid Tanneries Private Limited (TAW). He has recently retired after 40 years of workinthetannery.HecomesfromaScheduledCastebackgroundwithapersonalhistorythatvirtuallyembodiesthe history of the tanning industry in Ambur.Manikkyamstartedoutasanunskilledhelperinatannery,progressingthroughthechecker’spositiontomoreseniorroles. When he started out, he claims, tanning was carried outwithoutusingartificialchemicals,andwithoutpolluting

30 TranscriptionoftheinterviewrecordingavailableonfilewithSLD.

ChanGe YoUR ShoeS27

No answer 11%

Workers’reporting ABSENCE of Union in their factories/tanneries41%

Workers’reporting

PRESENCE of Union in

their factories/tanneries

48%

the environment of the area. The leather thus produced was colloquially called Avaram Patta. However, not long afterManikkyamstartedworking,theindustrymovedontochemical methods to reduce the process time from 10 days to 5-7 days. In the new production methods, lower quality leatherisproducedusingaprocessknownasdhrasandhigher quality leather is made using Chrome tanning. Man-ikkyamalsoobservedthatthelimitedsupervisorycapac-ity of foreign buyers coupled with corrupt practices of the tannery owners led to the eventual end of leather export in the area. The tanneries had to then start their own shoe factories to sustain their business. Manikkyamalsonotesthatastheuseofthechemicalprocesses pervaded the whole industry, the government also tightened its environmental regulations. Government monitoring of the pollution and tanneries’ failure to comply with the set norms, led to the closure of a number of tanner-iesinthearea.OnlyafewlargeoneslikeTAWsurvivedfortheir early adoption of measures for treatment and recycling of waste, particularly the water. In reality, environmentally hazardous practices still go on as the administration fails tocurbcorruptioninitsownranks.Manikkyamhasseenmajor decline in the fertility of agricultural land in the area and also the virtual extinction of all fresh water sources. TheintensificationofchemicaluseintheindustryhasalsohadgravehealthconsequencesforManikkyam.Hehastumours all over this body which according to his doctors have been caused by prolonged exposure to the chemi-cals. The tumours may or may not be malignant but they havenotbeencured.Manikkyamsaysthathisemployersrefusetotakeanyresponsibilityforhistreatment,citingtheavailability of the ESI services. In his long career as a trade union leader associated with theAllIndiaTradeUnionCongress,Manikkyamrelatesstories of countless struggles that have improved the lives ofthousandsofworkersintheregion.Manikkyamfondlyremembershisownpoliticalmentor,Venkatesan,popu-larlycalledAV,withwhomhewonhisfirstmajorstruggleforbonusestotheworkers.ManikkyamfollowedinAV’sfootstepstosuccessfullysecuretherighttoaweeklyleave,properworkers’uniforms,collectivelabouragreementswith employer groups for adequate allowances besides thebasicpayandsoon.ThefindingsabouttherelativelydecentworkingconditionsforleatherandshoesindustryworkersinAmburinourstudy,areperhapsaglowingtestimonytothesuccessofManikkyamandhiscomrades.Thatsuccessnotwithstanding,Manikkyammullsoverthefact,somewhatlikeKamakshi,thatafter40yearsofuntir-ing service to his employers he has retired at a salary-level which his young daughter is receiving at the start of her career!

4.4 VIoLaTIon oF LaboUR RIGhTS

Thefollowingsub-sectionusesthefindingsoftheprimary research to surface violations of the rights guaranteedbythekeylabourlawsinIndia.Foremostamong these laws are those protecting the freedom of association, social insurance, occupational health and safety,livingwageandlabourcontractsoftheworkers.As the following parts deal with each of these types of rights and their violations in the industry of Ambur and Agra clusters, the study attempts to underscore the failure of national and state government authorities as well as employers in protecting the basic rights of the workers.Thediscussiononeachtypeofrightbeginswitha description of the existing rights under the present leg-islative and constitutional provisions in India 31, followed by an analysis of the primary data to assess the level of compliance with these provisions.

4.4.1 Freedom of association

Leather tannery and footwear workers in AmburOnanaverage,55outofthe113workersinterviewedinAmbur were either unable to or refused to answer ques-tions pertaining to the freedom of association in their workplaces.However,101oftherespondentssaidthattheywereawareofthesignificanceandfunctionsofaworkers’union.

54 reported having unions in their factories, whereas 47 claimedthattherewasnoactiveunionintheirplaceofwork.

Figure 17: Presence of workers’ unions Ambur

48+41+1131 The discussion of the relevant legal and constitutional provisions in the following parts is based upon SLD’s unpublished research report titled Examining India’s Labour Law Changes: Toward advancing principles of rights, inclusion and employmentsecurity.ThereporthasbeenpreparedbyShikhaBhattacharjee.

28

Negotiations andtalks

17%

Speakingto manager

18%

Donotknow9%

No Answer56%

No answer48%

Strike/lockoutin the last

5 years4%

Nostrike/lockoutin the last

5 years48%

Know about therole and functions

of a union

Donotknowabout the role and functions of a union

Yes 2%

No 90%

No answer 2%

54oftherespondentssaidtherehasbeennostrikeorlockoutintheirknowledgeoverthelast5years;whereasanother 54 had no answer for this question. Only 5 of the respondentsclaimedhavingknowledgeofanystrikeorlockoutinthelast5years.

Figure 19: Knowledge of any strikes or lockouts in the last 5 years in ambur

4+48+48Footwear workers in AgraFortheshoefactoryworkersofAgra,freedomofasso-ciation and right to collective bargaining appear as alien concepts.110ofthe119workershadnounderstandingofthesignificanceandfunctionsofaworkers’union.

Figure 20: knowledge about the role and functions of a Union in agra

8+92Itdoesnotcomeasasurprisethen,that115ofthework-ers reported having no unions in their factories. Figure 21: Presence of a workers’ union in agra factories

2+96+2

42oftheworkerssaidthattheirunionwasformedbytheworkers;only4oftherespondentsclaimedthatanycen-tral trade union had a role in the formation of their union. Whenaskediftheybelievedthattheircolleagueswereharassedforparticipatinginunionactivities,63workersgave no answer, while another 49 said that there was no such harassment by the management. Negotiations and talkswiththemanagerwerereportedasthedominantmode of dispute settlement by 40 of the total respond-ents. At the same time, 63 of the respondents were igno-rant or refused to engage on the question of mechanisms for dispute settlement.

Whenaskediftheybelievedthattheircolleagueswereharassedforparticipatinginunionactivities,63workersgave no answer, while another 49 said that there was no such harassment by the management. Negotiations and talkswiththemanagerwerereportedasthedominantmode of dispute settlement by 40 of the total respond-ents. At the same time, 63 of the respondents were igno-rant or refused to engage on the question of mechanisms for dispute settlement.

Figure 18: Mode of dispute settlement by the unions in ambur

17+18+9+56In fact, in an answer to another question, 46 of the respondents expressed a belief that there was no mecha-nism for grievance redressal in their factories. 50workersreportedthattheirfactorymanagementdidnotallowunionmeetingstotakeplaceduringworkhours.Only 5 said that they could hold union meetings during workhours.Only 3 of the total respondents believed that there exists a collective bargaining agreement between their union andthefactorymanagement.43oftheworkersclaimedthat there was no such agreement. The remaining respondents either had no idea about the agreement or could not answer this question.

ChanGe YoUR ShoeS29

No 93%

Don’tknow3%No answer 4%

Individual meetingwith the manager

13%

Collectivemeeting withthe manager

2%

Other 3%

Approach the contractor 81%

No answer 1%

No Answer 3%

Donotknow31%

No 9%

Yes 57%

No answer 1%

No 22%

Yes 77%

Alltheworkersinterviewedwereregisteredasbeneficiar-ies of the Employees’ Provident Fund and Miscellaneous ProvisionsAct,1952.AllbutoneknewtheirProvidentFund account numbers and 108 of the 113 were aware of the amount being deducted from their salaries towards their contribution to the PF. However, only a little over half of the respondents believed that their employers contrib-uted their share to the PF. 10 thought that the employers did not contribute money to their PF while the remaining were either unaware or could not answer the question. Figure 24: employers’ contribution to he Provident Fund in ambur

57+9+31+3Almost all the respondents (111) were registered as ben-eficiariesoftheEmployees’StateInsuranceAct,1948,of which, 101 also possessed the ESI Smart Cards 32. 102oftherespondentsknewtheamountbeingdeductedfrom their wages as their contribution for the ESI serv-ices.Alargemajorityof87workersfromoursamplehadactually used the ESI services. Figure 25: Workers who have used eSI Services in ambur

77+22+1However,asisthecasewithPF,heretootheworkerswere unsure if their employers were contributing their due shares towards the ESI. Only 30 believed that the employers contributed, whereas 24 said that they did not; the rest were unaware or could not answer the question.

32 ESI Smart Cards are IT-based systems of providing the Employees’ State Insurance Services.

Workers,individualorasacollective,donothaveanyformal or informal access to the management for griev-ance redressal. Figure 22: any informal system of dispute settlement in agra factories

93+3+4Only 17 of the 119 respondents reported approaching the management, mostly individually, in case of any griev-ances.Thead-hocnatureofthissystemreflectsinthefactthat110oftheworkerssaidthatthereexistednoinformal system of grievance redressal in their factories. It isthelabourcontractors,theworkersrelyuponforresolv-ingtheirissues.97oftheworkersinterviewedsaidthatthey approach their contractors if they have any problems. Figure 23: Common modes of dispute settlement in agra

1+13+2+3+81Oursurveywasunabletoestablishtheefficacyofthissystem in addressing issues of labour rights. However, in the near complete absence of any unions or even informal labour collectives, the freedom of association of theworkersremainsarightsystematicallycurbedbythecontractor-led employment system in the industry.

4.4.2 Social Insurance

Leather tannery and footwear workers in AmburWhen it comes to providing legally guaranteed social securitybenefitstotheworkers,oursampleofleatherandshoeworkersfromAmburreportedthefollowing.

30

Yes 27%

No 21%

No answer 2%

Donotknow50%

Yes 1%

No 64%

No answer 2%

Donotknow50%

ents was registered under the Employees’ State Insur-ance Act, 1948. Unaware of their rights under the 1948 Act,workersdemonstratedacynicaldisengagementwithfurther inquiries into ESI issues. Similar situations prevailed when it came to the issues of gettingbonusesandgratuitywherealmostallthework-erseitherdidnotknowaboutthemorwerenotreceivingthesebenefits.

4.4.3 occupational safety and health

Leather tannery and footwear workers in AmburAmbur shoe and leather production facilities were found to frequently provide basic arrangements to ensure the healthandsafetyoftheirworkers.Almostalltheworkersinterviewedreportedavailabilityofcleandrinkingwater,sufficientnumberoftoilets,ade-quate lighting, fan or cooler during the summer season andacanteenfacilityattheirworkplace.However,only68oftheworkerscouldconfirmtheavailabilityofsepa-rate toilets for men and women. Almost all respondents reported that their factories were equippedwithfire-fightingsystemsandemergencyexitdoors. 111oftherespondentsreportedhavingfirst-aidcarefacility and 112 reported receiving safety equipment at theirworkplace.74respondentshadreceivedinstructionsfordealingwithwork-relatedhazardsand60reportedhaving also received training on safety measures to minimizetheriskofsuchhazards.While30respondentshad also at various points complained about hazardous conditionsofwork,amajorityof79workershadnevermadesuchcomplaints.Despitethesignificantnumberofworkersreceivingnecessarytrainingtodealwithhealthand safety issues, 102 of the respondents reported that there were no dedicated committees in their factories to takeuphealthandsafetyissues.The most common forms of accidents and injuries in shoe factories and leather tanneries are caused by acid orotherchemicalspillsontheskin,burnsandpiercingbyneedles.Othersignificantwork-relatedailmentsreportedincludeasthma,nausea,headaches,skindiseasesandallergies. 21workersreportedhavingmetwithanaccidentatwork.41workerssaidthatincaseofaccidentsoremergencyhealthissues,themanagementcommonlyprovidesfirstaidandthenreferstheworkertoahospitalifneeded.Another59workersconfirmedthatreferraltoahospitalwas a common response by the management in case of medicalissuesatwork.

Figure 26: employers’ contribution to the eSI fund in ambur

27+21+50+2Moreover,mostoftheworkers,105,foundtheprocessofavailingtheESIbenefitsdifficult.Additionally,allbutoneworkerreportedthattheirfacto-ries provided bonuses to their employees. Nearly all, 106 workers,alsoreportedtheirfactoriesprovidinggratuityamounts.

Footwear workers in AgraAgrathrowsupastarklycontrastingsituationtoAmbur.Only1outofthe119workersinterviewedinAgrareported being registered under the Employees’ Provi-dent Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952. While 76othersknewthattheywerenotregistered,alargenumberof41workerswereignorantabouttheirrightsunder the 1952 Act. Figure 27: Registered under the Employees’ Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 in Agra

1+64+34+1110oftheworkersdidnotknowiftheiremployerswerededucting any portion of their wages in the name of con-tributions to the PF. This fact is important as it is common practice where the employers use PF-related deductions asamechanismtoprovidelowerwagestotheirworkers.InsuchcasestheworkersmightnotevenbeawareiftheyareregisteredforgettingPFbenefits.AsimilarlybleaksituationexistsinthecaseofaccesstoESIservicesfortheworkers.Only1ofthe119respond-

ChanGe YoUR ShoeS31

services,asimilarnumberofworkerssaidthattheyboretheexpensesthemselves.However,18workersdidclaimreceivingfinancialsupportfromthefactoryincasesofwork-relateddiseases.96workerssaidthatworkersdonotgetpaidduringtheperiod of recovery after an accident or from illness. A smallnumberof18workerscontradictedthisopinionandsaidtheworkersdogetpaidduringtherecuperationperiod.Asmanyas69workersclaimedthatifrecoveryfromanaccidentorillnesstakesalongtime,workersarefiredfromtheirjobs.Incontrast,another47saidthatitisnot the case. However, an overall assessment of the situation indicates a general trend of dereliction of duty on the part of the employers in the Agra shoe industry when it comes to workers’healthandsafety.

4.4.4 Living Wages

The Asia Floor Wage BenchmarkThe Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA), a global coali-tionoftradeunions,workers’rightsorganizationsandhuman rights organizations, provides a detailed formula for calculating living wages across national contexts. TheAFWAdefinitionofalivingwagespecifiesthatliv-ing wage calculations must include support for all family members,basicnutritionalneedsofaworkerandotherbasic needs, including housing, healthcare, education and some basic savings.The Asia Floor Wage Alliance bases their calculations on the following considerations:• Aworkerneedstosupportthemselvesandtwoother

consumption units. [One consumption unit supports either one adult or two children.]

• An adult requires 3000 calories a day in order to carry outphysicallydemandingworkingoodhealth.

• WithinAsia,foodcostsamountforhalfofaworker’smonthly expenditure.

Based upon these assumptions, the Asia Floor Wage is calculated in terms of Purchasing Power Parity $ (PPP$). ThisfictitiousWorldBankcurrencyisbuiltuponcon-sumption of goods and services, allowing standard of liv-ing between countries to be compared regardless of the national currency. In order to calculate annual Asia Floor Wagefigures,theAFWAcarriesoutregularandongo-ingfoodbasketresearch(AFWA2016:n.p.).Accountingforhighinflation,AsiaFloorWagefiguresarecalculatedannually.Accordingto2015AFWAannualPPP$wagefigures,calculatedbaseduponuptodatenationalfoodbasket

75 respondents reported that it is the ESI services or the factory management which bear the cost of treatment generallyincaseofwork-relatedhealthissuesandminoraccidents.Howeveralmostalltheworkersalsosaidthatincaseofmajoraccidents,itistheworkerswhohaveto bear the cost of treatment and expenses during the recovery period. In all, it can be contended that the factories and tanneries inAmburprovidebasicfacilitiesandfinancialsupporttotheirworkersincasesofminoraccidentsandcommonhealth hazards. However, in the absence of collective representationoftheworkersinmanagingthesefacili-ties, in cases of major accidents and long-term ailments theworkersarelikelytobelefttofendforthemselves. Footwear workers in AgraIn Agra, the study found very few responses indicating thatthefactorymanagementstookanyresponsibilityforthehealthandsafetyoftheirworkers,exceptforprovid-ingsomeverybasicfacilities.Almostallworkersreportedadequate availability of toilets, lighting, and fans or coolers duringthesummerseasonintheirworkplaces.Alargemajorityof95workersconfirmedtheavailabilityofseparatetoilets for men and women. However, 16 other respondents alsosaidthattherewerenowomenworkersintheirfacto-ries.54oftheworkershadcanteensintheirfactories.Emergencyexitdoorsandfire-fightingsystemswerenotfoundinallthefactories-only68workersreportedhaving the emergency exit doors and only 63 reported havingfire-fightingsystemsintheirworkplaces.Almostalltheworkersreportedasthmaasamajorwork-relatedailmentcommonlyfoundintheindustrywork-ers. Injuries caused by burns and cuts were reported as commonby58workers.Only2workersreportedhavingwitnessedanymajoraccidentintheirworkplace.Only37ofthe119respondentsclaimedtohavefirst-aidfacilities in their factories. As few as 20 of the respond-ents said that their factories provided them with safety equipment. As many as 100 respondents said that they didnotreceiveanyinformationaboutwork-relatedhaz-ardsfromtheirmanagements.Only7workershadevercomplainedabouthazardousworkingconditions.While65workerssaidtheyreceivenohelpfromtheemployersincasesofwork-relatedaccidents,afew,19,saidthattheydidreceivesomekindofhelpfromtheemployers. However, probing further into the nature of help received, the study found that it was limited to cases involving minor incidents. Themajorityof88workerssaidthattheythemselveshave to bear the cost of treatment in case of accidents. Even in other instances requiring expenses for medical

32

No Answer 18%

Twice in a month28%

Monthly54%

Donotknow1%

Not Applicable 39%

No answer 1%

Yes 17%

No 42%

Single 53%

No answer 2%

Not Applicable40%

Double 5%

Yes 13%

No 63%

No Answer 2%

Not applicable 22%

Only19oftheworkersreceivedextrawagesforovertimework. Figure 30: Payments for overtime hours in ambur

17+42+1+39+1However, only 6 of the respondents believed that over-time wages were paid at double the normal rates; 60 workersbelievedthattherateswerethesameasnormalworkhour-rates.

Figure 31: Rates of overtime payment in ambur

53+5+40+271workerssaidthattheybelievethatthereisnowagediscrimination based on gender. Only 15 said that women receivedlowerwagesthanmenforthesamework.

Figure 32: Women receiving lesser pay than men for the same work in ambur

13+63+22+2

research,alivingwagesufficientforworkersinIndiaamounts to INR 18,727 [USD 282.78] per month. This rate includes support for all family members, basic nutri-tionalneedsofaworkerandotherbasicneeds,includinghousing, healthcare, education and some basic savings.

Leather tannery and footwear workers in AmburDespitetheirrelativelybetter-offworkingconditionscomparedtotheworkersinAgra,theworkersinAmburreceivedismallylowwagesfortheirwork.OurstudyrevealedthatmostworkersinAmburwerenotreceivingeven half of the living wage amount. The following graph shows the distribution of our sample across various income strata.

Figure 28: Average monthly incomes in Ambur

7600 TO 8500 1 6600 TO 7500 325600 TO 6500 294600 TO 4500 93600 TO 4500 222600 TO 3500 17

1500 TO 2500 1

Distribution of the sample of respondents across various monthly income brackets. (Y-axis: Income brackets in Rs/month; X-axis: Number of workers from our sample receiving their monthly wages in a particular income bracket)

95oftheworkersreceivedpaymentslipsfortheirwages.61 of the 113 respondents received their wages on a monthly basis, as another 32 received them on a fort-nightly basis.

Figure 29: Frequency of wage payments to workers in Ambur

54+28+18

ChanGe YoUR ShoeS33

Piece rate 18%

Daily 2%

Monthly 9%

Weekly71%

Single 60%No Answer 38%

Double 2%

Women paidequal to men

8%

Less than men 77%

Donotknow3%No answer 12%

Footwear workers in AgraTheworkersinAgrahavefarlowermonthlyincomescompared to the prevailing living wage standards. Their absolute monthly incomes are only marginally higher than their Ambur counterparts. The following graph shows the distribution of our sample across various income strata.

Figure 33: average monthly incomes in agra

NO ANSWER 812000 18001-10000 136001-8000 564000-6000 402000-4000 1

Distribution of the sample of respondents across various monthly income brackets. (Y-axis: Income brackets in Rs/month; X-axis: Number of workers from our sample receiving their monthly wages in a particular income bracket)

Only3ofthe119workersreportedreceivingpaymentslips for their wages. Maximumworkers,84innumber,receivedtheirwagesonaweeklybasis.Another22workersreceivedtheirwages under the piece-rate system. Only 11 of the respondents received monthly salaries.

Figure 34: Frequency of wage payments in agra

9+71+2+1871workersreportedthatovertimewageswerepaidatsinglerate.Only3workerssaidthatworkersreceiveddouble rates for overtime hours.

Figure 35: overtime wage rates in agra

60+2+38Gender-based wage discrimination in Agra is really high with 92 of the 119 respondents believing that women werepaidlesserthanmenforthesamework.

Figure 36: Women receiving lesser pay than men for the same work in agra

8+77+12+34.4.5 Labour Contract

Leather tannery and footwear workers in Ambur109 of the 113 respondents in Ambur were regularly employedand2wereemployedasdailywageworkers.Howeveronly4workersreportedhavingappointmentletters whereas 104 of the respondents said they did not haveit.101workerssaidthattheyhadneveraskedtheiremployers for the appointment letters.Asaproofofemployment106oftheworkershadcom-pany identity cards, 104 of which were signed by factory officials.

Footwear workers in AgraInAgra,almostnoneoftheworkersreceivedanyappointment letters or possessed any identity cards.Theworkershadalsoneveraskedforthesedocuments.

34

However,Manikkyamisamongthebetter-offworkerswhencomparedtothefootwearindustryworkersfromAgra.Outofthe119workersinterviewedforthisstudy,only one had an ESI registration. It is an accepted norm inAgrathatworkershavetobeartheirownmedicalexpenses even if they are necessitated by hazardous workingconditions.TheemployersinAmburcanalsoseekrelieffromsuchresponsibilitiestowardstheirworkersastheydoprovidesafetyequipment.However,asanotherfootwearworkerfrom one of Ambur’s production units manufacturing for export to Italy, told the researcher:“Yeah, they give gloves and all, but we won’t use. These gloves are made up of rubber and they are heavy and it slows us down while working and you feel like you have been working slow and not with the efficiency one generally has. And sometimes wearing the gloves, the worker will be little careless if he is not feeling the sewing machine and he has the risk of making the hand go into the machine.” (Anand, a 38-year old footwear worker from Ambur) 34

The safety equipment provided by the company does not sit comfortably with strictly supervised daily targets for production in Ambur’s footwear production units. High productivityoftheworkeriscriticaltotheprotectionoftheirsubsistencewages.InAgrasimilarpressuremakesworkerstakeuplonghoursofworkwithoutmuchcarefortheirownhealthorrights,inordertomakethemaximumin wages under the piece-rate system of payment.Agra has not had a history of a vibrant trade union move-ment in the leather and footwear industry. However, Ambur with its great legacy of successful trade union movements led by the communists, is presently at cross-roadsaboutthewaystoprotectworkers’hard-wonrights.As Damodaran and Mansingh (2008) note, job security in the export-oriented leather and footwear industry is highly vulnerable to the volatility of the international mar-kets.Incaseofademandslump,thedomesticmarkettoo is not capable of providing an alternative avenue to large suppliers, as the highly competitive Chinese indus-tryhascometoswampthedomesticIndianmarketwithcheap products. Additionally, any space in the domestic sector that might be targeted by big producers in sce-narios of low international demand, will end up displacing thousands of small and medium producers who generally relyonthedomesticmarket.

34 ThequoteisfromagroupdiscussionwithAnandandotherworkers.Tran-scriptoftherecordingofthisdiscussionisavailablewithSLDonfile.

5. InTeRIM ConCLUSIonS

In sum, the numbers in the foregoing analysis of the Indian leather and footwear industry point to rampant vio-lations of labour rights, aggravated by exclusionary social structuresofcasteandgender.TheworkersinAmburdoappear to have relatively better access to social security comparedtotheworkersinAgra.Inthiscontext,astheaforementioned labour law reforms materialize to supply aflexiblelabourforceforglobalfinancecapital,itwouldbecomeincreasinglydifficultforworkerstorememberthemselves as bearers of human rights. Such a condition isalreadypresentingitselfinthecaseoftheworkersinAgra. Therefore, having supplied the numbers of rights violations,thisstudywoulddojusticetotheworkingpeople of the Indian leather and footwear industry in foregrounding their voices to narrate their own stories. It is with this sense that, we put forth the interim conclu-sionsbelowthroughthenarrativessharedbytheworkersthemselves.

“We have to stand all day in the cutting section, [where] we are prone to get arthritis and other joint related pains… Especially women are subjected to more health issues, as we have to deal with leather and the smell it emits while working, and other gums we use to stick the shoe and other material in the process of shoe making, make us go dizzy sometimes… and once we are home we generally don’t feel like eating or anything; we feel like we don’t have appetite and we want to just sleep the moment we go home.” (Kamakshi, a 38-year old shoe factory worker from Ambur with 22 years of work experience)33

TheworkingconditionsintheIndianleatherandfootwearindustryarephysicallyhighlytaxing.Workersmayendupwithlong-termailmentswithinsufficientincomesorpen-sions for medical treatment. Manikkyam,aseniortradeunionleaderandleathertan-neryworkerfromAmburshowedtheresearchertumoursall over his body. The tumours, his doctors tell him, are caused by long-term exposure to chemicals used in the tanneries. His pension and savings are not enough to get them examined for possible malignancy. The tannery heworkedinforhiswholelifetakesnoresponsibilityofhis condition on the pretext that he already has access to Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) medical services. The ESI medical facilities have not been able to cure his tumours.

33 TranscriptoftherecordingofinterviewavailableonfilewithSLD.

ChanGe YoUR ShoeS35

In Ambur, agricultural land has been rendered infertile by the pollution from the leather industry. Those aspiring for new avenues are striving hard to gain higher educa-tionandlearnnewskills.Butasofnowtheresourcesrequiredtofulfilsuchaspirationsstillcomefromincomefrom the leather and footwear industry. As related to the researcher by Anand from Ambur:“There are people who are still students and [are also] working in the companies. We know three people who are like this; they go to college and they come for work also. They want to study but they don’t have money. What will they do? They have to work to earn money and study to fulfil their dreams. There is a teacher who is working in our line, and there is also a nurse who does the same work as we do.”Thisscenarioleavesnochoicefortheworkersbuttodepend on the government authorities to protect labour rights enshrined in India’s constitution and legislative structure. The present study has also traced the shift in thelegislativeandgovernanceattitudeinthebackdropofmarketliberalizationinIndia.Evenasthelargescalelabour law reforms are yet to be fully realized by the Central government, a de facto liberalization of these is already effected through their negligible implementation. Kamakshinarratedherexperiencewithlabourinspec-tions in her factory:“… but when the labour officers come and visit us we feel there is a nexus between the administration and the labour officers. They just come once in a while and go on their own way. There is no mechanism for the employees to inform the labour officers if there is any complaint.”A logical outcome of these adversities faced by the work-ers, can be summed up in the case of Manikkyam. Hav-ing fought his entire working life for the collective rights of the workers in Tamil Nadu’s leather industry, Manikkyam himself is left to wonder after his recent retirement:

“After working for 40 years, I could not get the salary which my fourth born managed to get in the initial stages of her earning [life].”

AstheworkersinIndia’sleatherandfootwearindustrycopewithinternationalmarketvolatilityundertheliberal-ized regime, de facto and proposed de jure dilution of labour laws, decline in the trade union movement and a glaring dearth of alternative employment opportunities, international brands procuring from Indian suppliers must takeurgentmeasurestoensurethattheirprofitsdonotcome at the cost of the lives of these toiling masses.

Withthisbackdrop,theworkershavebeenconvincedthat their subsistence wages are critically tied to the sustainabilityoftheiremployerfirm.Thus,incasesofrightsviolations,workershavereportedapreferenceforresolving the matter internally with the employer through non-disruptive negotiations. This compromised attitude towardscollectivebargainingamongtheworkerscouldbeapossibleexplanationfortheweakeningoftheonce-robust trade union movement in Ambur.

“Inside union is formed by the workers of the respective company and its main concern is about that particular company. However, outside union is formed by someone else and if you want to start working under that banner you have to get registration number, and seven members should be by law members. Although there can be elec-tions within the union, these seven members will continue as founding members. And this type of unions such as AITUC, CITU, Anna, and PMK and several other outside politically affiliated unions will be concerned about many things and it is not good for the company and the work-ers. And the inside union is like family, if we have issues with management we can resolve among ourselves with-out the intervention of the outside agencies.” (Balram, a tannery worker from Ambur with 26 years of experience, on why he does not prefer working with “outside unions” like the central trade unions)

Unfortunate as it may be, the situation in Ambur is much better compared to the state of labour rights in the Agra footwearindustry.Almostnoneoftherespondentwork-ers from Agra in this study showed any awareness about theirrights.Mostofthemreportedlittletonoknowledgeaboutthesignificanceandfunctionsoftradeunion.Thiscould be seen as a possible explanation of their dismal workingconditions,asisreflectedinthediscussionofour primary data.Given the industry-wide systematic violation of labour rights and the decline of the trade union movements wheretheywereoncestrong,theworkersmaywanttochoose an alternative profession if available. In Agra, the exercise of such a choice is circumscribed by historical reasons of caste and the prominence of the industry in the local economy. Jatav and Muslim communities constitut-ingthebulkoftheworkforcehavebeenengagedintheshoe-makingprofessionsincetheMughalera.Atransitiontoanewprofessionwouldinvolvebreakingofrepressivesocio-culturalbarriersandgainingnewskills.Ourfieldstudy was unable to identify signs of any such transition.

36

c. Healthyworkingconditionsshouldbeensuredwith proper ventilation, hygiene, sanitation, pri-mary medical care, adequate waste management, legallyregulatedworkhours,etc.

d. Democratically elected, functional and account-able committees against sexual harassment as mandated by the Indian law should be constituted in all factories.

4. Adequate social security systems should be put in place in accordance with the existing government poli-ciesforallworkers.a. Provident Fund and Employees’ State Insurance

shouldbeprovidedtoallworkersincludingthosecurrentlyprecludedfromthebenefitsduetoirregu-larsystemsofemploymentlikedailywage,piece-rateandcontractworkers.

b. Pay-slipsprovidedtoallworkerswithoutfailshouldreflectclearlythedeductionsfromtheirwagesonaccount of contributions to various social security benefitslikeProvidentFundandEmployees’StateInsurance.

c. Information and communication technology should be effectively deployed to facilitate easier access and transparency in the various social security benefits.

d. Maternitybenefitsasmandatedbythelawshouldbe strictly followed.

5. Freedom of Association, as guaranteed by the Indian Constitution and labour laws should be promoted and protected by the industry at all costs.a. Workersshouldbeallowedtoorganizefortheir

rights without fear in factory spaces.b. Grievance redressal systems should be made

functional at the factory level for addressing the concernsoftheworkers.

c. Collective bargaining with democratic unions and groupsofworkersshouldbeadoptedasanormfordecision-makingwithinthefactories.

d. Unfair labour practices and illegal coercion should bestrictlycheckedascommonpracticesforunionbusting.

e. Women should receive equal representation in all bodies formed for the purpose of collective bar-gainingandworkers’representation.

6. ReCoMMendaTIonS

6.1 ReCoMMendaTIonS To The IndIan LeaTheR and FooTWeaR FaCToRIeS aS WeLL aS To InTeRnaTIonaL CoMPanIeS

1. Recruitmentandplacementofworkersintheindustryshould follow statutory obligations.a. The illegal practice of hiring contract and daily

wageworkersforperennialworkwithinthefacto-ries should be immediately ended.

b. Discriminatoryplacementofwomenworkersmustbe stopped. Women must be appointed to posi-tionscommensuratewiththeirskills,atparwithmaleworkers.

c. Appointmentlettersshouldbeprovidedtoallworkers.2. Living wages and at the minimum, statutory wages

shouldbeprovidedtoallworkers.Wagetheftshouldbe ended; transparent modes of wage payments in line with the relevant national and state government regulations must be practiced.a. Dailywageworkersshouldberegularizedastheir

“dailywage”statusisamisclassificationforwhatoughttoberegularwork;thispracticeonlyallowsfordenialofbenefitsandexploitationofworkers.

b. Pieceratepaymentstoworkersshouldbemadeasperratessetthroughscientificallyderivedmeth-odologywithinputfromworkers’representatives.In the absence of such a mechanism, the result is inhuman production targets and forced overtime. Piecerateworkshouldbeabolishedaltogetherinfavour of regular employment, until a valid method-ology is put in place

c. Pay-slipsshouldbeprovidedtotheworkerswith-out fail.

d. Overtimeworkshouldnotbeforcedandthewagerates for overtime hours should be double the ratesoftheregularworkhours.

e. Women should be paid equal wages as men for similarwork.

3. Occupational health and safety should be actively ensuredbythemanagementforalltheworkers.a. Workersinleatherandfootwearfactoriesmustbe

thoroughly trained to handle hazardous chemicals and processes with adequate safety gear.

b. Healthissuesamongworkersresultingfromhazardousworkingconditionsshouldbeactivelymonitoredbytheworkplacemanagementinorderto install suitable protective systems; management must bear the responsibility of the treatment of those affected.

ChanGe YoUR ShoeS37

6.2 ReCoMMendaTIonS To The IndIan GoVeRnMenT

1. The institutional systems for stringent implementation of the labour laws in the leather and footwear industry of India can be strengthened through the following measures:a. Promotionoflabourrightsamongworkers,

employers, implementing authorities, consumers, investorsandotherstakeholders

b. Hiringofsufficientpersonnelinthelabourdepart-ment to ensure regular inspection, monitoring and compliance by factories

c. Providingfreelegalservicestolow-incomework-ers in order to prevent their exclusion from access-ing justice

2. The ministries and authorities mandated with imple-mentationofenvironmentalregulationsshallalsotakeinto account for redressal the adverse impacts of pol-lution from the industry on community livelihoods and health.

3. Prevention of gender discrimination in wages and commensuratepromotioninrecognitionofskillsofwomenworkers.

4. Activepolicyincentivesandfinancialsupport,aspro-vided to association of owners in the industry, should beextendedtounionsandcollectivesofworkersinrecognition of their constitutional and legal right to freedom of association.

5. Minimum wages shall be raised in order to guarantee decentworktoallcategoriesofworkers.

6. Denial of ESI and PF, or withholding of employer con-tribution, must be closely monitored and retroactively implemented in cases of violation.

7. Proposed labour law reforms shall be reconsidered to betterguaranteetherightsoftheworkersandensureaccountability of employers as well as global supply chains.

8. The Indian government must ratify ILO Conventions 87, 98, and 131 at the earliest with due considerations forthespecificconditionsoflabourinIndia.

6.3 ReCoMMendaTIonS To The eU MeMbeR STaTeS

1. EU Member States shall implement the UN guiding principles on business and human rights.

2. EU Member States shall create national action plans obligating government and businesses to protect human rights.

3. EU Member States shall reform their OECD national contact points for multinational enterprises to meet human rights standards.

4. EU Member States must create or improve grievances and complaints procedures for the victims of labour and human rights violations.

5. EUMemberStatesshallcreatealegalframeworktotakeactionagainstillegalbusinesspracticesaswellas infringements of corporate criminal law by multina-tional corporations.

6. EUMemberStatesshalltaketheinitiativeincreatingMSI focused on leather and footwear production.

38

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© Christina Schröder, Südwind

ThisreporthasbeenproducedwiththefinancialassistanceoftheEuropean Union. The contents of this report are the sole responsibility of the project partners in the project Change Your Shoes and can under no circumstancesberegardedasreflectiveoftheEuropeanUnion’sposition.

IMPReSSUMauthors: Vaibhav Raaj, Sahshi Kant Prasad, Anton Pieper

editors: Anannya Bhattacharjee, Melanie Deter

Layout: Julia Löw, www.weiderand.net

Publisher: SÜDWINDe.V.–InstitutfürÖkonomieundÖkumene,

Kaiserstraße 201, 53113 Bonn, Germany

www.suedwind-institut.de, info@suedwind-institut.de,

Publication date August 2016